Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the President of the Eurogroup until January of next year, expressed his reservations at the European Commission's proposal of Wednesday 6 December (see EUROPE 11920) to create a post of European finance minister, at a hearing with the MEPs of the 'economic and monetary affairs' committee on Thursday 7 December.
Although he welcomed the Commission's work in drafting the package of proposals on the future of Economic and Monetary Union, Dijsselbloem nonetheless voiced doubts over the plans to put the same individual in charge of both the Eurogroup and the economic affairs of the European Union. He considers that a Commissioner having control over national budgets could raise questions of democratic and demographic legitimacy. The Eurogroup will insist on having its own president, he added, stressing the distinction between the Commission, a Community institution, and the Eurogroup, which functions on an inter-governmental basis. Burkhard Balz (EPP, Germany) also expressed doubts on this.
However, Dijsselbloem is remaining patient and awaiting clarifications on this point, as on other Commission proposals presented in this package. Dijsselbloem, who hopes that the Eurozone will be given new budgetary instruments, anticipates intensive discussions over the next six months to define and clearly demarcate the instruments proposed by the Commission.
As for the role of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the President of the Eurogroup, whose mandate will end on 13 January of next year, when he will be succeeded by Mario Centeno (see EUROPE 11918), believes that the current framework should be kept in place to benefit from its experience. He also spoke in favour of completing Banking Union and measures to both share and reduce bank risks.
When asked by several MEPs about the case of Greece, he acknowledged errors in the management of the crisis, but welcomed the work carried out and took pains to congratulate Greece on the reforms that have been set in place, which are expected to bring the country out of the third bailout plan by summer 2018. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)