Brussels, 19/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - The slowdown in growth in the United States should have but a minor impact on the economic situation in the European Union, said members of the Eurogroup Thursday evening, meeting for the first time under the chairmanship of Didier Reynders, Belgian Finance Minister. "The American situation has little effect on the prospects for growth in Europe (…) and we may have realistic optimism in the euro zone". Reynders declared at a press conference organised at the end of the meeting. "Oil prices are lower than expected and developments in the exchange rate have improved in relation to the working hypotheses", on which the European Commission based itself when establishing its forecasts for growth in November, Pedro Solbes, European Commissioner responsible for monetary matters, agreed, expecting a "slight" deceleration in growth in the European Union in the first half of 2001 followed by a recovery in the second half, backed by a "clear reduction in inflation". "We are less at the mercy of external shocks than we used to be", he claimed: "The mechanical effects of a two percentage points drop in American growth should lead to a fall in growth in the euro zone of possibly 0.15%".
The first country to take on the Presidency of the euro zone for a full year, Belgium submitted a "general policy note" to its partners on its main intentions. "They were very broadly approved", Mr. Reynders believed. He placed emphasis on his will to step up the dialogue between the different institutions, and notably between the ECB and the Eurogroup, as well as to further coordinate economic policies and to do so in the debates on structural reforms (pensions, employment, etc.), and, if possible, in a "proactive" manner, having, in May or June, a policy debate on the budget. Among the Belgian priorities we also find improving the international visibility of the euro and a "successful" passage to the practical euro. Belgium thus intends bringing in "robust monitoring" of the state of preparedness of each member state of the euro zone "in all crucial fields", on the basis of a report that the European Commission will submit at each meeting. Regarding this, Commissioner Solbes proved optimistic on Thursday: "We consider that the evolution is fairly positive now. All Member States have already submitted a programme for passage to the euro and administrations have stepped-up their preparations, even though it's true that much remains to be done".
Thursday's meeting was the occasion to officially welcome Greece into the club of the Eurogroup, since its official entry into the single currency on 1 January. This occurred with the noted absence of two finance ministers: Germany's Hans Eichel and France's Laurent Fabius.