Economic and budgetary coordination: go for jobs and growth, involve national parliaments

Jobs and growth remained the focus of debate at the Tuesday session of the second inter-parliamentary meeting of MEPs and MPs on the European semester for economic policy coordination. The need to involve national parliaments more closely in these EU-level debates was also widely stressed.

EU Commissioners Olli Rehn and László Andor, as well as Danish Minister and Economic and Financial Affairs Council  President Margrethe Vestager, joined the closing discussions and took on board the points raised by all parliamentarians about the need for a fiscal consolidation system to stimulate the economy rather than a more simplistic, one-dimensional model.

MEPs stressed the need for more synergies between national budgets and the EU budget, suggesting that inter-parliamentary meetings such as this should be made an institution, so as to ensure that national parliaments are more aware of the EU dimension before formulating their respective national economic and budgetary policies.