Tag: economic governance

If adopted and implemented by the EU, the European Commission's legislative proposals on economic governance will constitute a new way of coordinating economic policies in the bloc, writes Nicolaus Heinen, an analyst at Deutsche Bank Research.

The main concern underlying reform of EU economic governance is avoiding another debt crisis, but although this is key, Europe should also focus on fostering sustainable growth for future competitiveness, writes Maria Joao Rodrigues, professor of European economic policies at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and a policy advisor to the EU institutions. In the sketch below, she simulates a debate on reforming economic governance.

A European Commission paper, seen be EurActiv, asks EU countries to present their economic reform plans earlier in the year alongside budget discipline measures, marking the latest attempt by Brussels to scrutinise Europe's national economies in the wake of the Greek debt crisis.

Germany and France face an uphill battle to secure backing for a change to the European Union's fundamental treaty, EU foreign ministers indicated yesterday (25 October) after lengthy talks.

Countries' private debt will for the first time be included in the EU's scrutiny of the bloc's economies and whether countries with spiralling debts should receive sanctions, according to EU sources.

Entrusted by EU leaders to come up with a proposal to reform the bloc's economic governance by the end of the month, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said his taskforce had reached agreement on the main points, but was still stuck on the nitty-gritty of the blueprint.

Bilateral agreements will remain the basis of relations between Switzerland and EU countries, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey told EurActiv ahead of hosting the thirteenth international Francophonie summit. 

There will be no need for the euro zone's emergency lending facility to be used after the announcement by Ireland and Portugal of additional austerity measures, the head of the facility said on Thursday (30 September).

Werner Faymann, the Austrian chancellor, has rejected Germany's calls to penalise countries that break EU budget discipline rules, saying he does not believe in changing the treaties to fix the euro zone's debt problems. In an exclusive interview with EurActiv.de, he also gives his views on France's controversial Roma expulsions.

Eurozone governments panicked at the onset of the Greek crisis and now there is a real risk that austerity measures, hastily adopted, might prompt a double-dip recession, John Monks, secretary-general of the European Trade Union Confederation, told EurActiv in an interview.

Leaving greater scope to financial markets is the best way to achieve the original aims of the euro, writes Niels Thygesen, professor of economics (emeritus) at the University of Copenhagen and a former independent member of the Delors Committee on Economic and Monetary Union in 1988-1989.

The enforcement of future budget discipline rules must "leave no room for slippage," said EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, lifting the veil on proposals due to be presented on 29 September.

Rather than constituting an undemocratic interference, surveillance and sanctioning of national budgets at EU level is the only way to solve the bloc's economic ills, says Rudi Thomaes of the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium.

EU leaders will focus on international affairs when they meet in Brussels today (16 September) rather than hammering out new budget surveillance measures as originally envisaged.

European trade unions rebuked the EU's plans to reform economic governance, to be discussed at today's summit of EU leaders. Though they remain unfinalised, the leading proposals currently on the table were slammed for maintaining a "social race to the bottom".

No less than the future of the euro hangs in balance with regard to the current debate surrounding economic governance, writes Alessandro Leipold, economic adviser to the Lisbon Council and former acting director of the IMF's European department.

Proposals on the shape of Europe's economic governance infrastructure should be put forward by the EU executive – not the Van Rompuy task force – according to Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the liberal group in the European Parliament.

Zsolt Darvas, a research fellow at Bruegel, a think-tank, says wage hikes from the past five years should be "given back" in order to restore Europe's competitiveness.

Theo Waigel, Germany’s former finance minister and one of the architects of the euro in the 1990s, says the Greek sovereign debt crisis has exposed the failure of the institutions underpinning the common currency, in particular the European Commission. He spoke to EurActiv.de in an exclusive interview.

European Union finance ministers agreed yesterday (7 September) to submit budget plans for early review by the European Commission and other EU governments as part of moves to strengthen fiscal discipline in the bloc.

A row over how the EU calculates and manages its debt is brewing as Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Slovak counterpart, Iveta Radičová, argue over the EU's upcoming overhaul of the bloc's new budget rules. EurActiv Germany and EurActiv Slovakia contributed to this article.

The Greek sovereign debt crisis is forcing Europeans to rethink the coordination of their national economic policies, confronting the euro area with its most severe test since its launch eleven years ago.

As talks intended to review Hungary's IMF/EU financial deal collapsed over lenders' demands for tough measures to keep the budget deficit on target, the Hungarian forint dropped to 288.98 against the euro yesterday (19 July), down from 286.82 HUF/€. EurActiv Hungary reports.

Due to its strict supervision mechanisms, Spain's financial system is ''much more solid'' than many others and there are absolutely no plans to ask the EU for help, Rafael Dezcallar de Mazarredo, Spanish ambassador to Berlin, told EurActiv Germany in a recent interview.