The Erasmus Center for Economic and Financial Governance organised an expert dialogue in Brussels on the European Commission's proposals for the reform of the EU economic governance rules.
Professors Fabian Amtenbrink and Jakob de Haan provided a legal and economic appraisal of the Commission proposals, followed by Professor Päivi Leino-Sandberg who spoke on the role of the European and national parliaments in this framework. A roundtable discussion ensued where experts from the European Parliament, Commission, Council, European Fiscal Board, European Court of Auditors, European Stability Mechanism, think-tanks, and the academia offered their perspectives. Ms Margarida Marques MEP (co-rapporteur) provided closing comments.
On 26 April 2023 the European Commission published three legislative proposals for the reform of the economic governance framework and in particular the substantive rules of the Stability and Growth Pact and Directive 2011/85/EU on requirements for budgetary frameworks of the Member States. These proposals were the preliminary conclusion of an extensive review of the current governance framework that was prolonged by the events surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The Commission’s aim is to make economic governance ‘simpler, improve national ownership, place a greater emphasis on the medium term and strengthen enforcement, within a transparent common EU framework’.
The proposals raise various important questions:
- Do the proposed reforms have the potential to address the pro-cyclical character of national budgetary policies?
- Is the envisaged new system less dependent on compliance with unobservable indicators of fiscal performance?
- To what extent can the proposals enhance enforcement?
- Do the legislative proposals entail a substantive improvement of the democratic legitimacy and accountability of the economic governance framework?
- What are the notable gaps in the current proposal (e.g., with regard to an enhanced EU fiscal capacity)?
- What is the role of the European and national parliaments in the proposed new framework?
The discussion evolving around these concrete questions relating to the Commission proposals has furthermore to be placed into the broader context of the resilience of EMU and namely its ability to withstand and mitigate external shocks.
In order to address these questions, the Erasmus Centre for Economic and Financial Governance (ECEFG) organised an expert dialogue on 11 October 2023 at the Club University Foundation in Brussels and in the interdisciplinary spirit of the centre invited outstanding experts in the field of law and of economics with an academic track record on issues of economic governance in EMU. The experts enriched the roundtable debate with their different perspectives on the questions raised by the Commission proposals.
Participation in the Brussels ECEFG Expert Dialogue on Economic Governance was by invitation only in order to allow for open discussions. The Chatham House Rule applied. We are very grateful to all the experts who joined us, whether in person or online.
Programme
| What | Who |
|---|---|
| Welcome and Introduction | Prof. Dr. René Repasi, MEP (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Moderation | Dr. Menelaos Markakis (Erasmus University Rotterdam) Scientific Coordinator of ECEFG |
| A legal and economic appraisal of the Commission proposals for the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact | Prof. Dr. Jakob de Haan (University of Groningen, CESifo Munich) Prof. Dr. Fabian Amtenbrink (Erasmus University Rotterdam, College of Europe) |
| The role of parliaments (national and European) in the proposed new framework | Prof. Dr. Päivi Leino-Sandberg (University of Helsinki) |
| Discussion | |
| Closing remarks | Ms Margarida Marques, MEP (co-rapporteur) |
| Conclusion | Prof. Dr. Fabian Amtenbrink (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
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