The first meeting of the Task Force established by the March 2010 European Council on sovereign debt and related banking crisis resolution and better budgetary discipline will be held in Brussels on today, Friday 21 May 2010.
The Task Force is chaired by the new, that is incoming, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy.
The objective of the workgroup will be to present a report to the October European Council on the measures and mechanisms needed to reach the objectives of an improved crisis resolution framework and better budgetary discipline, says the press release from the President of the European Council.
Ralf Grahn reports that we recall the conclusions of the European Council 25/26 March 2010 (document EUCO 7/10), where the heads of state or government mercifully acknowledged “in cooperation with the Commission” with regard to the establishment: 7. The European Council asks the President of the European Council to establish, in cooperation with the Commission, a task force with representatives of the Member States, the rotating presidency and the ECB, to present to the Council, before the end of this year, the measures needed to reach the objective of an improved crisis resolution framework and better budgetary discipline, exploring all options to reinforce the legal framework.
Today is the forum for German Finance Minsister Wolfgang Schauble to present his nine-point plan on European Governance – essentially consisting of proposals to toughen the Euro Stability Pact, and to make sanctions stick as Andrew Rettman in EUObserver reports in May 21, 2010 article EU holds first meeting on joint economic governance the proposals tabled by the Commission on May 12, 2010, and especially issues proposed by the German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble.
The German plan envisages a new body to “rigorously” examine national stability programmes, a job previously done by the European Commission. “The examiner could be the European Central Bank, or a specially appointed group of independent research institutions,” Berlin said.
It added that national parliaments should play a key role in fiscal planning, after Austria, Sweden and the UK objected to the commission’s 12 May proposal that EU governments should peer-review budgets before MPs get their say.
Countries which flout EU stability rules should “in extreme cases” lose EU structural fund payments and “have their voting rights in the Council suspended for at least one year” – a measure last imposed against Austria in 2000 when it elected an out-and-out far-right politician, the late Jorg Haider, to government.
Commentary: Today, Friday May 21, 2010 marks the inaguaration of European Global Governance as the new incoming President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy leads a workgoup of state and finance ministers to establish a framework agreement for a federal economic, monetary and seigniorage government of the 27 member European trade zone. The goal of the workgroup is to detail measures and mechanisms of sovereign debt management which might include vetting of state budgets before they are presented to state legislatures.
