Brussels, 20/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Economy and Finance Ministers of the euro zone Member States gave a cool welcome, on Monday evening in Brussels, to the European Commission's initiative to review a number of provisions of the Stability and Growth Pact. It came as no surprise that the Eurogroup took a stance against the Commission's decision to take action at the Court of Justice to challenge the freeze of procedures for excessive deficits against Paris and Berlin, decided by the Ecofin Council of 25 November 2003.
"Ministers expressed the feeling that it would be good to take a little more time before making an assessment of the Pact", said Irish national Charlie McCreevy, who chaired the meeting. Commissioner Pedro Solbes admitted that his initiative on reform of the Pact had not sparked off much enthusiasm. "Some ministers wondered if it were the right moment, all the more as the Court has not yet ruled on it", he explained.
Mr McCreevy also acknowledged the fact that there had not been much "support (…) for the Commission's decision to seek a judgement from the European Court of Justice", although the ministers do acknowledge the right of the Commission to act on its own initiative. According to some sources, none of the twelve ministers took the floor to openly support the Commission's decision to take action before the Court of Justice, including four countries (Austria, Spain, Finland, Netherlands) which had not rallied to the Ecofin Council's compromise. Even the Dutch Minister, Gerrit Zalm, said he did not approve such a legal approach. "I do not feel attacked", Mr Solbes said, adding: "I have always acted according to my convictions, which is that the Pact must be upheld".
Ministers did, however, show a certain amount of unity by again stressing in a declaration ("terms of reference") the need to improve public finance and to implement structural economic reforms.
Deciding on 13 January to attack the decision taken by the Ecofin Council of 25 November to freeze the proceedings against Germany and France for excessive budgetary deficits, the Commission had simultaneously announced that it would adopt an initiative by end February aimed at improving implementation of the Pact, mainly in order to take the economic cycle more into account when conducting budgetary policies. Mr Solbes told the press that the Commission's initiative on "economic governance" was aimed at improving the context for coordination of economic policies. "We do not intend to change the Treaty, but only a number of provisions of the regulations on implementation of the Stability Pact", Mr Solbes said, pointing out that the improvements needed concern the three following elements in particular to:
"better combine discipline with economic growth considerations by placing fiscal policy within the broader context of general economic policy surveillance";
"focus more on the sustainability of the Member States' public finances"; and
"improve the implementation of the Pact by enhancing the common interest in the area of economic policy".