European Commision: Spain’s Finances are Back on Track
May 28th, 2010
A European Commission spokesman today expressed “satisfaction” from the EU executive after the approval of the Spanish Government’s financial adjustment plan in the Congress of Deputies yesterday.
“Our impression is that the measures go in the right direction, these additional efforts were needed for fiscal consolidation, but some detailed analysis is ongoing,” said Amadeu Altafaj, spokesman for European economic and monetary affairs.
Altafaj did point out that the EC has still to finalise its complete evaluation of the measures and also said that “on the 7th and 8th of June, there will be a more detailed discussion than that of the last Eurogroup and Ecofin assembly, when we will hold a political discussion” with the sixteen members of the euro and the twenty-seven ministers of Finance.
Asked if the European Commission had been “relieved” by the adoption of the Decree-Law, which only passed parliamentary agreement in Spain by a single vote, the spokesman acknowledged that “there is great satisfaction with the decision.”
When pressed on when Brussels will make its assessment of the adjustment plan public, a Spanish spokesman answered, “it will take all the time necessary to carry out detailed analysis of the measures that are important and whose budgetary impact should be assessed absolutely and accurately.”
Eurogroup and Ecofin
The Economic and Financial Affairs Council is, together with the Agriculture Council and the General Affairs Council, one of the oldest configurations of the Council. It is commonly known as the Ecofin Council, or simply “Ecofin” and is composed of the Economics and Finance Ministers of the Member States, as well as Budget Ministers when budgetary issues are discussed. It meets once a month.
The Ecofin Council covers EU policy in a number of areas including: economic policy coordination, economic surveillance, monitoring of Member States’ budgetary policy and public finances, the euro (legal, practical and international aspects), financial markets and capital movements and economic relations with third countries. It decides mainly by qualified majority, in consultation or codecision with the European Parliament, with the exception of fiscal matters which are decided by unanimity.
The Ecofin Council also prepares and adopts every year, together with the European Parliament, the budget of the European Union which is about 100 billion euros.
The Eurogroup, composed of the Member States whose currency is the euro, meets normally the day before the Ecofin meeting and deals with issues relating to the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). It is an informal body which is not a configuration of the Council.
When the Ecofin Council examines dossiers related to the euro and EMU, the representatives of the Member States whose currency is not the euro do not take part in the vote of the Council.
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