On Tuesday 16 July, the European finance ministers will hold an exchange of views on the implementation of the revised Stability Pact, initiate excessive deficit procedures (EDP) for seven EU Member States and discuss the EU’s additional macrofinancial assistance to Ukraine from 2025.
On the basis of proposals submitted by the European Commission (see EUROPE 13449/17), the Ecofin Council is expected to decide to initiate EDP procedures against seven Member States: Belgium, France, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia. From a legal point of view, the procedures will be opened by written procedure before the summer, as soon as the necessary translations are available.
These proposals do not contain a recommendation on the budgetary path that each country concerned should follow in order to emerge from the infringement procedure. In the Commission’s view, the gradual introduction of the reformed Stability Pact in 2024 justifies conducting these discussions with the Member States concerned as part of the preparation of their multiannual macro-budgetary programmes, which will also detail the investments and reforms they intend to carry out from 2025 onwards over a period of four to seven years.
The EDP for Romania will also be reactivated.
Ukraine. Despite Hungary’s often antagonistic stance towards the EU’s support for Ukraine, the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU confirmed in its priorities for the presidential term (see EUROPE 13448/10) that it intends to take regular stock of the socio-economic consequences for the EU of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.
On Tuesday, the ministers will therefore discuss the work in progress on the development of new EU macrofinancial assistance to Ukraine from 2025 in order to implement the agreement of the G7 countries on loans of up to $50 billion pledged against the future profits generated by the assets of the Bank of Russia tied up in the EU (see EUROPE 13442/1).
Before the summer break, the European Commission and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs are expected to present their proposal, which will take the form of macrofinancial assistance (MFA+) to be adopted by the EU Council by a qualified majority of Member States. A way of circumventing a potential veto from countries such as Hungary or Slovakia.
The European Council is calling for this macrofinancial assistance to provide military, budgetary and reconstruction support to Ukraine.
RRF. The Ecofin Council will adopt without debate the revised post-Covid-19 recovery plans presented in the spring by the following five Member States: Germany, Cyprus, Finland, Greece and Poland (see EUROPE 13451/21).
It will also endorse the socio-economic policy recommendations made each year by the EU institutions to the Member States.
EMU. The European Commission and the ECB will present their recent convergence reports to the ministers (see EUROPE 13440/18). Bulgaria will not join the euro area at the beginning of 2025 because it does not yet meet the price stability criterion.
G20 Finance meeting. Finally, the Member States will decide on the EU’s priorities, which will be defended at the G20 Finance meeting in Rio de Janeiro from 25 to 27 July. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)