(Finance) – The counter-proposal put forward last week by German Finance Minister Christian Lindner will not be accepted by the European Commission. Brussels which will present its “in the coming weeks”. formal legislative proposal for the revision of the Stability Pact will not insert in the text the annual reduction of one percentage point in the debt/GDP ratio for Member States that are above the 60% threshold. Pre-established obligations on the reduction of public debts which for Italy would mean having to make a clean cut of almost 20 billion euros a year. That’s what she explained today spokesperson for economic and financial affairs of the European Commission, Veerle Nuyts during the daily press briefing of the Community Executive.
Immediately welcomed by the Dutch, the German request clearly contradicts two guidelines hitherto rather consolidated and linked to each other in the ongoing debate on revision of the framework of economic “governance”. (as the Stability Pact is called today): the hypothesis of abolishing the “debt rule”, according to which the debt-GDP ratio had to fall annually by 1/20 of the differential between current debt and the maximum threshold of 60 % foreseen by the Maastricht Treaty; replace this erga omnes obligation with the introduction of a “tailored” path for each Member State, regarding the pace of budgetary adjustment, and in particular the reduction of public debt.
“We – he recalled Nuyts – We welcomed the end-March European Council’s endorsement of the agreement, which had been reached by finance ministers in Ecofin on 14 March, on guidelines for the reform of our economic governance framework. The areas of convergence identified among the Member States in the EU Council provide the Commission with a solid basis for carrying forward its work on the legislative proposals, while continuing to engage with the Member States on some still open issues; and given the urgency we intend to advance the legislative proposals in the coming weeks. We have also continued to dialogue with the Member States after the agreement reached at Ecofin, and we will continue to do so, as well as with the European Parliament, and we will of course continue to do so after the presentation of our proposal. Because the ultimate goal is to ensure broad consensus on this important issue. In this regard, we welcome the EU Council’s objective of concluding the legislative work by the end of this year on the proposed reform of the Pact”.
The hypothesis according to which the EU Commission is working on a annual debt reduction goalas in the German proposal has not been confirmed by Nuyts. “What I can confirm – continued the spokeswoman – is that we are working on the legislative proposals, which we will be presenting in the coming weeks. And I would also like to repeat what I just said earlier: that the European Council has approved the agreement reached by the Ecofin on our guidelines, and you know very well – she added to journalists – what those guidelines contain”.
“I think it’s important to emphasize,” he said Nuyts – that we continue to engage with the Member States: we have always done so, we have continued to do so after the agreement that was reached at Ecofin, and we will continue to do so even after. The goal – concluded the spokesperson – is precisely to ensure broad consensus on this important issue; but it is also important to underline that, given the urgency, we aim to present the legislative proposals in the coming weeks”.