Brussels, 05/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Friday, the Finance Ministers of the 25 Member States met their counterparts and representatives of the central banks from the candidate countries to discuss developments in macro-economic policies. This regular discussion, which took place on Friday morning on the sidelines of the Ecofin Council, focuses on the abilities of these countries to integrate EU budgetary monitoring and the coordination of economic policies frameworks from their accession. Minsters adopted opinions on the pre-accession economic programmes (PEPs) of Bulgaria and Romania and conclusions on those of Croatia and Turkey. Noting “encouraging progress in candidate countries”, Karl-Heinz Grasser, Austrian Finance Minister and President of the EU Council, pointed out that many reforms still had to be carried out. This view was shared by Economic and Financial Affairs Minister Joaquin Almunia, who stressed the fine outlook and the “generally positive” assessment. He specified the challenges to be met, notably with regard to inflation deficits in current accounts, the need to avoid pro-cyclical policies and ensuring the stability of the banking system.
Sofia and Bucharest have entered “a crucial phase” of their preparation for accession, say Ministers, insisting they have to resolve all the issues before they join. They welcomed the balanced or near-balanced budgetary scenario submitted by Bulgaria, but remained concerned by rising current account deficits in 2005. As for Romania, they stressed the increased importance focussed on the programme to bring about a cautious budgetary policy and to increase growth potential by redirecting expenditure towards physical and human capital.
Ministers acknowledged Croatia's “significant progress” in transforming its economy and recommended it remain “vigilant” against any budgetary risks and deal with structural problems in the economy, including by reducing the public sector share. In Turkey, the macro-economic performance improved in 2005, said Ministers, and they called on the authorities to follow the development of current account deficits closely. As they did for Croatia, Ministers called on Ankara to concentrate on structural reform of the economy, notably monitoring State aid, improving the business climate and the working of the employment market.
The assessment of progress in terms of statistical data, which involved the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYRM) too, highlighted the need for the five countries to speed up their efforts to comply with their obligations.