The European Parliament adopted by 317 votes to 254,
with 9 abstentions, a resolution on the review of the economic
governance framework: stocktaking and challenges.
An
alternative motion for a resolution was rejected in plenary by 79
votes to 515, with 31 abstentions.
Parliament welcomed the Commission
Communication of 28 November 2014 on the economic governance
review. However, it insisted that the current framework is
complex and it suffers from a lack of ownership at national
level and limited attention to the international economic
perspective and appropriate democratic accountability
mechanism. It underlined the importance of simple and
transparent procedures for economic governance.
The
current economic governance framework needs to be implemented
and where necessary improved to:
- deliver fiscal stability;
- improve economic convergence perspective of the euro
area;
- address on an equal footing Member States' different
economic and fiscal situations.
Members believe that the current economic situation
with its fragile growth and high unemployment calls for urgent,
comprehensive and decisive measures in an holistic approach based
on growth-friendly fiscal consolidation, structural
reforms and boosting investment in order to restore sustainable
growth and competitiveness, to foster innovation and to fight
unemployment.
Parliament agreed with Commissioner Thyssens
statement that countries that provide high-quality jobs and better
social protection and invest in human capital are more resilient
to economic crises. It called on the Commission to reflect this
position as it moves forward in all of its European semester policy
and country-specific recommendations.
Best application of flexibility within the existing
rules: Parliament welcomed the interpretative
communication on flexibility within the existing rules of the
Stability and Growth Pact (SGP). It supported:
- all the incentives proposed by the European
Commission to finance the new European
Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), mainly by making
national contributions to the fund fiscally neutral as regards
to the attainment of the MTO and to the required fiscal adjustment
effort without modifying it in the preventive or the corrective arm
of the Stability and Growth Pact;
- the Commission's intention to refrain from
launching an Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) if, only because
of the additional contribution to the EFSI, a Member State deficit
goes slightly and temporarily beyond the 3% deficit
limit;
- that the Commission communication aims at
clarifying the scope of the investment clause, allowing for
a certain degree of temporary flexibility in the preventive arm of
the SGP, in the form of a temporary deviation from the Medium Term
Objective (MTO), provided the deviation does not lead to an excess
over the 3% deficit reference value and an appropriate safety
margin, to accommodate investment programmes by the Member
States.
Parliament called for: (i) enhanced dialogue
between the Commission and the Member States on the content and
types of structural reforms most appropriate and effective to be
proposed by the Commission in the Country specific recommendations;
(ii) greater economic and social cohesion to be provided by
strengthening the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund in
order to preserve and create jobs with rights by supporting
measures to combat unemployment and poverty; (iii) the fight
against long-term unemployment to be reflected in its policies and
country-specific recommendations.
Closer coordination, economic convergence and
streamlining of the European Semester: Parliament urged the Commission to fully apply the
SGP and ensure its fair implementation.
It made the following recommendations:
- streamline and reinforce the European
Semester within the current
legislative framework;
- the Commission and the Council should better
articulate the fiscal and macroeconomic frameworks to allow for
earlier and more consistent debate among all stakeholders taking
into account: (i) the European interests served by these
frameworks, (ii) the need to increase convergence between euro area
Member States, (iii) deliberation by national parliaments and the
role of social partners or of local authorities regarding the
ownership of sustainable and socially balanced structural
reforms;
- the Annual Growth Survey (AGS) as well as the
country-specific recommendations (CSR) must be better
implemented and take into account the
assessment of the budgetary situation and prospects both in the
euro area as a whole and in the individual Member
States;
- the Country Specific Recommendations (CSRs) should be,
where relevant, better coordinated with the Excessive
Deficit Procedure (EDP) recommendations so as to ensure
consistency;
- the elaboration, follow-up, support and
monitoring of Country Specific Recommendations should be
enhanced;
- the Commission should take account, in its analyses
all important factors, including real growth, inflation, long
term public investment and unemployment rates when evaluating the
economic and fiscal situations of Member States.
Democratic accountability and challenges
ahead: Members stressed that a
major role must be played by institutions subject to democratic
accountability. They recalled the European Parliament's
resolutions specifying that the creation of the European Stability
Mechanism (ESM) and of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and
Governance ('Fiscal Compact') outside of the structure of the
institutions of the Union represents a setback to the
political integration of the Union.
The stakeholders are invited to take into account the
foreseeable future enlargement of the euro area and to explore all
options to deepen and strengthen the EMU, such
as:
- enhanced democratic accountability
mechanisms at both the EU and
national levels, whereby responsibilities must be assumed at the
level where decisions are taken and based on the adoption of
convergence guidelines under co-decision;
- formalising the scrutiny role of the European
Parliament in the European Semester in an Inter-Institutional
Agreement;
- ensuring that all euro area National
Parliaments follow each step of the European Semester
process;
- a social dimension aimed at preserving Europe's
social market economy, respecting the right to collective
bargaining;
- a euro area fiscal capacity based on specific
own-resources which should, in the framework of the Union budget
with European parliamentary control, assist Member States in the
implementation of the agreed structural reforms;
- increasing the resilience of the EMU to face
economic shocks and emergencies directly connected to the monetary
union;
- completing the Banking Union step by
step;
- the inclusion of the European Stability
Mechanism and the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and
Governance (TSCG) in Union law.
Parliament also recalled their request to develop
options for a new legal framework for future macroeconomic
adjustment programmes, replacing the Troika, in order to
increase the transparency and ownership of these programmes and
ensure that all EU decisions are, where possible, taken under the
Community method.