21 June 2013

Main results of the ECOFIN Council

The Council approved country-specific recommendations to the Member States on their economic and fiscal policies. The recommendations will be referred to the European Council, under this year's European Semester process, with a view to formal adoption in July.

The Council closed excessive deficit procedures for Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Romania, gave notice to Belgium on measures to correct its deficit, extended the deadlines for Spain, France, the etherlands, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia to correct their deficits, and reopened an excessive deficit procedure for Malta.

It approved the extension of loan maturities for Ireland and Portugal, and agreed a package of measures to combat VAT fraud.

The Council also approved a proposal allowing Latvia to adopt the euro as its currency as from 1 January 2014. The proposal will be referred to the European Council before a final decision is taken in July.

Full results

Speaking at the ECOFIN press conference, VP Rehn said:

"We took one big step towards a banking union yesterday, and I expect another one tonight. We've used the new economic governance to recommend reforms to Member States in order to unleash the growth potential of Europe and its capacity to create jobs. We’ve taken initiatives to address the bottlenecks to lending to SMEs and to alleviate youth unemployment. And we’ve endorsed Latvia’s euro membership.

Let me stress the significance of this point. Latvia's desire to adopt the euro is further evidence that those who predicted a disintegration of the euro were indeed behind the curve. Instead of having fewer members, the eurozone will have one more member as of next January, and in 2014 there will be 18.

I also want to welcome the strong endorsement given today to the country specific recommendations. There have been substantive and constructive discussions with the Member States in recent weeks and, I am pleased to say, the final recommendations are very close to those put forward by the Commission last month.

The ball is now back in the court of the Member States. Implementation is key. We will have a first occasion to take stock of this in the autumn, when we present, for the first time, our assessments of draft national budgets under the rules agreed in the ‘Two Pack’, which is now in force.

Let me say, though, that these recommendations should not be followed just because the Commission says so, or just because the ECOFIN, or the European Council, say so. They should be followed because they represent a blueprint for recovery – for the reforms needed to boost competitiveness, ensure sustainable pensions, and more dynamic and inclusive labour markets. In short, to remove obstacles to growth and job creation in Europe.

Full speech © European Commission

© European Council