On Tuesday 18 June, during a debate at the Brussels Economic Forum 2019, The European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, did not hide a certain disappointment regarding the first agreement reached on the creation of a euro area budget. This is a start, he says, and much more needs to be done in the future.
Asked about his vision for restoring the social contract in the European Union, the Commissioner outlined a series of measures for the future. Among these, the Commissioner wanted to go further on the euro area budget, which was partially agreed at the Eurogroup on Friday 14 June (see EUROPE 12275/1).
"To be frank, I am not fully satisfied", the Commissioner said of the partial agreement. "We need to have more ambition, we need a true Euro area budget with a stabilisation function. As long as we don’t have that we cannot create convergence inside the Euro area ", he warned. And the Commissioner went even further: "We can think about an insurance against unemployment and this can be part of the Euro area budget".
Mr Moscovici made other proposals during his speech, in particular to review the social indicators used in the 'European Semester' budget process to really work towards the development of "inclusive growth".
In addition, in the context of the budget negotiations, Mr Moscovici called for the preservation of a substantial budget for the cohesion funds and insisted on the further implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights.
A budget capacity of €17 billion would be envisaged. the euro area summit on the morning of Friday 21 June will focus on the future of the euro area. But there should be no negotiations between Heads of State and Government, as this discussion is linked to the negotiating framework on the financial perspectives. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)