25 May 2012

Joint letter of President Van Rompuy and President Barroso to the EU heads of state or government on the G20 summit

The EU should aim for results in the priority areas set out in the Spring European Council Conclusions, keeping growth and employment at the top of the G20 agenda, continuing to strengthen the International Financial Architecture, and making further progress on financial market reform.

Keeping growth and employment at the top of the G20 agenda

We will reaffirm our commitment to safeguard financial stability in the euro area and its integrity. We will also make clear that we want Greece to remain in the euro area while respecting its commitments. Finally, we will inform our partners that we are in the process of reinforcing further our economic union to make it commensurate with monetary union.

At the EU level, our most important growth lever remains the Single Market. To be fully credible it is important that each Member State fully and consistently implements the legislation already approved. The European Commission will be making further proposals for completing the internal market in the area of services and network industries. Also, we invited the EIB Board to consider an increase of its capital by June for financing projects across the EU, and we will soon launch the pilot phase of our project bonds initiative. Finally, we should emphasise that we have also put in place a process to tackle macro-economic imbalances within the EU, which will help step up competitiveness and rebalance economic growth. Recent data show that EU-internal imbalances are being reduced, although more needs to be done by both deficit and surplus countries.

Continuing to strengthen the International Financial Architecture

We will stress that the full implementation of the 2010 reforms is a critical element for boosting the legitimacy, credibility and effectiveness of the IMF. The EU is on track for the timely implementation of the 2010 IMF quota and governance reforms, and all EU Member States expect to complete their ratification by the agreed deadline.

We should encourage all other IMF members to do likewise. IMF members should also now stand ready for constructive discussions on the review of the IMF quota formula and on the next review of quotas, taking into account the need to improve IMF accountability, oversight and effectiveness.

The EU should also support the efforts to strengthen IMF surveillance, and should welcome the building blocks put forward by the Fund for a new Integrated Surveillance decision. Our recent experience has demonstrated that we need to integrate bilateral, regional and multilateral surveillance better. We will support an improved and deeper analysis of exchange rates, capital flows as well as capital flow management policies, drivers of reserve accumulation, and global liquidity.

Making substantial further progress on financial market reform

Progress should also be made on the remaining policy strands, covering key issues such as shadow banking, credit rating agencies and the convergence of international accounting standards. The governance reform of the Financial Stability Board should be implemented in a timely manner, including by ensuring effective coordination between the Financial Stability Board and other international financial regulatory/standard-setting bodies.

Full statement

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