It is for the first time, in a long while, that a European summit is so eagerly awaited as the summit due to take place Thursday and Friday in the Belgian capital. Significant with this regard are the numerous preparatory meetings. The premiers of Italy, France, Germany and Spain met in Rome last week. Yesterday, the French president and the German chancellor held talks in Paris. The French capital also hosted, Tuesday evening, a dialogue of the Finance Ministers of the four major economies of Europe.The main topic on the agenda of the summit is represented by the adoption of a Pact for economic growth and for the creation of new jobs. This will emphasise the importance of resuming the economic growth in Europe, as revealed by the draft conclusions of the meeting, quoted by EurActiv.The document reflects a balance between the various interests of member states, after the countries of the southern flank criticised the fact that the fiscal Pact adopted in March exclusively stipulates austerity measures.
European states will have to take into consideration “protecting the investments in fields oriented towards the future, directly related to the growth potential of the economy, and to securing the sustainability of pension systems,” as mentioned by the draft conclusions of the summit.
In their vision, the euro zone must become a political and fiscal federation if it wants to finally have the levers needed to combat the severe crisis that exists in the 17 countries of the monetary union. Although this is nothing new, and has often been discussed of late, the proposal will be officially put on table for the first time during the present summit, as ‘The Guardian’ reports.Such a political and fiscal union – a project insistently promoted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel – implies that national governments will give up some of their powers in favour of the financial authorities of the euro zone, which will thus be allowed to directly control the budgets of member states. But the proposal made by the four European leaders also targets the countries outside the monetary union. “An integrated financial accord must cover all the countries of the EU,” reads the aforementioned proposal. The fiscal orientation of the new federation will be assured by a so-called Ministry of Finance of the euro zone.During the current summit, the “group of four” will insist to obtain a clear mandate from the leaders of European countries, so they devise a road map until the end of the year. The political-financial union should become reality within 10 years, according to this project.Anyway, only Friday at noon, when the summit ends, will we be able to see what steps forward it was possible to be made.In their vision, the euro zone must become a political and fiscal federation if it wants to finally have the levers needed to combat the severe crisis that exists in the 17 countries of the monetary union. Although this is nothing new, and has often been discussed of late, the proposal will be officially put on table for the first time during the present summit, as ‘The Guardian’ reports.Such a political and fiscal union – a project insistently promoted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel – implies that national governments will give up some of their powers in favour of the financial authorities of the euro zone, which will thus be allowed to directly control the budgets of member states. But the proposal made by the four European leaders also targets the countries outside the monetary union. “An integrated financial accord must cover all the countries of the EU,” reads the aforementioned proposal. The fiscal orientation of the new federation will be assured by a so-called Ministry of Finance of the euro zone.During the current summit, the “group of four” will insist to obtain a clear mandate from the leaders of European countries, so they devise a road map until the end of the year. The political-financial union should become reality within 10 years, according to this project.Anyway, only Friday at noon, when the summit ends, will we be able to see what steps forward it was possible to be made.
