20 November 2012

Plenary Session: Accountability is vital to future Economic and Monetary Union, say MEPs

Finally, to address employment concerns, EMU members should adopt a "social pact", it adds.

The resolution, drafted by Marianne Thyssen (EPP, BE), will feed into EMU preparatory work being done by the presidents of the European Parliament, the European Council, the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the Eurogroup, who are due to deliver an EMU "roadmap" in December.

Accountability across the board ...

The resolution underlines the need for accountability of a host of players. Much of this set-up would need to be developed at the EU level, but national players, especially parliaments, should also be further empowered.

Measures to strengthen the role of the economic affairs Commissioner should be balanced by making him or her more accountable to the European Parliament. Likewise, all players involved in coordinating economic policies (the European Semester) would need to explain their positions and decisions more publicly, including in the European Parliament.

For EU bank supervision, the resolution says that the European Parliament should be empowered to approve the bank supervisor chairperson, who should be required to report to Parliament and attend hearings there. Parliament should also have the right to investigate any perceived failings of the supervisor by setting up inquiries.

Similarly, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) chairperson would need to be approved by Parliament and would be subject to regular reporting requirements. Parliamentary hearings would also be required for the Commission's Troika representatives (Commission, IMF and ECB) before taking up their duties, and they too should be subject to regular reporting and democratic scrutiny.

... not least by involving national players more

National parliaments would also need to be better involved, so as to bring the EU dimension into everyday national politics. The resolution specifically calls on national parliaments to take more part in shaping the fiscal and reform plans that their governments then submit to the EU. 

The future EMU starts now

The resolution accepts that full EMU will require changes to the EU's basic rules and advocates a "truly federal Europe". However it also points out that much can be done within the current set-up to tackle the crisis. To this end, it calls on the Commission to table legislation consistent with the treaties and to list legislative proposals in the pipeline that should not be delayed due to work on long-term institutional reform. 

New legislation which could already be possible includes tax coordination through enhanced cooperation, a social pact to integrate employment and social concerns better, rules to fine-tune the European Semester arrangements, and a system providing an EU budget funded solely by own resources. The resolution also calls for the European Stability Mechanism and the Fiscal Compact to be integrated into the EU treaties as soon as possible, thereby removing them from the intergovernmental realm.

Press release

Video No budgetary union without a social pact

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