EU economic and finance ministers are meeting in Brussels on 16 November 2004. High on the agenda is a discussion of the report of the High Level Group chaired by Wim Kok on the Lisbon mid-term review. The ministers are set to agree on the review's recommendations on getting the Lisbon agenda back on track by reviewing the priorities and focusing it on higher growth and employment.
Ministers also agree that benchmarking national performances can strengthen the accountability of member states as regards implementing economic and social reforms. However, the 'name and shame' idea, proposed by the so called 'Kok Report', received a mixed reaction from the 4 November 2004 European Council.
As usual, a meeting of eurozone ministers preceded the EcoFin 16 November council on the evening of 15 November. Ministers held a discussion on the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact and gave the Economic and Financial Committee a mandate to work further on reviewing it (see EurActiv 3 September 2004) .
During the meeting, eurozone ministers also discussed Eurostat's progress report on the revision of Greek fiscal data for 1997-2003. Greece's admission that it entered the eurozone with false data on the country's budget deficit has raised a considerable amount of debate since the scandal was revealed in September 2004 (see EurActiv 28 September 2004). The Commission says that there is no legal basis on which to exclude Greece from the single currency. However, the new Commission does have the power to decide to impose penalties on Greece and take it to the European Court of Justice.
