On Wednesday 20 September, the Spanish Finance Minister, Nadia Calviño, reiterated the desire of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union to reach an overall agreement on the revision of the Stability and Growth Pact before the end of 2023, during a dialogue with the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.
Several MEPs - Jonás Fernández (S&D, Spanish), Ernest Urtasun (Greens/EFA, Spanish), René Repasi (S&D, German) - asked her whether the reform would include uniform quantitative ‘benchmarks’ for consolidating public finances. However, the Minister sidestepped the fundamental issues, repeating over and over again that the future rules will have to allow debt to be reduced while preserving room for manoeuvre for investment in the climate and digital transitions.
There is “no plan B” - all the ministers support “the ambitious timetable” of the Spanish Presidency and consider the four areas of work identified to be appropriate, she noted, referring to the specific note sent to the Member States in July (see EUROPE 13244/19).
Other priorities of the Spanish Presidency include the review of the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework, the completion of the banking union, the fight against money laundering and tax evasion, and boosting competitiveness. On strengthening the banking crisis management framework (CMDI), she argued that “we need to repair the roof of the building while the weather is good”.
Russian assets frozen. Asked by Luděk Niedermayer (EPP, Czech) what progress had been made by the EU Council on the confiscation of frozen Russian public assets (see EUROPE 13213/5), Ms Calviño pointed out that the Member States were studying “different options”. “We will not move forward until there is legal cover” to avoid “undesirable effects”, she stressed.
NGEU. Eva-Maria Poptcheva (Renew Europe, Spanish) asked why the Spanish authorities had not yet published the list of the top 100 beneficiaries of the Spanish recovery plan (see EUROPE 13253/43). According to Ms Calviño, Spain is seen as an example to follow in terms of transparency in the use of European funds, pointing to the heterogeneity of the data that the Member States have sent to the European Commission. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)