EP and Council strike a deal on economic governance package

The rapporteurs on the Economic governance legislative package ("Six pack") met informally on Wednesday evening with representatives of the Polish Presidency, in the presence of representatives of the Commission. At this meeting, detailed wording was tabled on the few outstanding differences between the EP and the Council.

This will now form a proposal for approval to be put to members of the Council and of the EP.

The vote in the plenary is scheduled in principle for the September II session.

The text  now accepted by Council includes:

• more discipline for sustainable public finances;

• less bargaining between Member States, with a stronger role for the Commission;

• a broad surveillance of macro-economic imbalances;

• more transparency; new "economic dialogue"  in the EP; no more deals behind closed doors;

• better ownership by national governments and Parliaments;

• the "European semester for economic policy coordination" is codified 

The last three stumbling blocks which were overcome were:

• inclusion of the reversed voting system (reversed simple majority) in the preventive arm of the SGP; furthermore  the Council commits in the legislation, to follow as a rule, the recommendations of the Commission; if not, an explanation will be made in public, and is  part of the "economic dialogue" in the EP;

• the scope of the surveillance of the macroeconomic imbalances: all the Member States will be subject to surveillance (surplus and deficit countries).

• the ECON committee of the EP may also offer representatives of Member States an exchange of views ("economic dialogue").