Brussels, 21-2-2013 — /europawire.eu/ — Joint statement by President Barroso and Vice President Rehn on the occasion of today’s trilogue agreement on the Two-Pack legislation on the economic governance in the euro area
Once legislation proposed by the Commission on the two-pack is adopted, the Commission intends to take steps in the short-term towards a deep and genuine EMU as outlined in the blueprint. Short-term steps (6 to 12 months) will include:
The Commission will establish an Expert Group to deepen the analysis on the possible merits, risks, requirements and obstacles of partial substitution of national issuance of debt through joint issuance in the form of a redemption fund and eurobills. The Group will be tasked to thoroughly assess, what could be their features in terms of legal provisions, financial architecture and the necessary complementary economic and budgetary framework. Democratic accountability will be a central issue to be considered.
The Group will take into account the on-going reform of the European economic and budgetary governance and assess the added value for such instruments in this context. The Group will pay particular attention to recent and on-going reforms, such as the implementation of the two-Pack, the ESM and any other relevant instruments.
In its analysis the Group will pay particular attention to sustainability of public finances, to the avoidance of moral hazard, as well as to other central issues, such as financial stability, financial integration and monetary policy transmission.
The members of the Group will be experts in law and economics, public finances, financial markets and sovereign debt management. The Group will be invited to present its final report to the Commission not later than March 2014. The Commission will assess the report and, if appropriate, make proposals before the end of its mandate.
Building on the short-term steps announced in its Blueprint that can be realised by secondary legislation, the Commission is committed to put forward explicit ideas for Treaty changes in time for a debate before the next European Parliament elections in 2014 with a view to setting the legislative basis for the steps envisaged in the medium-term, which foresees the creation of a substantially reinforced economic and budgetary surveillance and control framework, a further developed European fiscal capacity supporting solidarity and the implementation of sustainable growth enhancing structural reforms, as well as the deeper integration of decision making in policy areas like taxation and labour markets as an important solidarity instrument.
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