ALDE remains sceptical that the Euro Plus Pact will deliver results

“The European Council has put in place a permanent mechanism to underwrite the financial stability of Member States. However  I have serious doubts that the ‘Euro Plus Pact’ can achieve this goal as past experience has shown that national governments are unable to discipline themselves.” said ALDE Leader Guy Verhofstadt commenting on today’s European Council Summit conclusion, “The Commission must retain the leading role in Europe’s economic governance as an objective adjudicator and impartial enforcer which is exactly what the Parliament will try to achieve in its negotiations on economic governance with Council by the end of June.”

Sylvie Goulard (Modem, France), Parliament’s rapporteur on effective enforcement of budgetary surveillance in the euro area commented:
“We can draw some comfort from the fact that the European Council has broadened the scope of economic governance to include the health of the banking sector and the key role of the Single Market as well as its recognition of the co-legislative role of the European Parliament. Indeed, today’s conclusions are not the end of the story as the important legislative measures still have to be agreed with Parliament. It remains unclear though how effective the Euro Plus Pact will be without any real enforcement mechanism.”

Carl Haglund, (Svenska Folkpartiet, Finland), Parliament’s rapporteur on the enforcement measures for macroeconomic imbalances in the economic governance package said:
“The Euro Plus Pact adds yet another layer to the increasingly complex set of instruments addressing the issue of economic governance that we already have on the table yet adopts an intergovernmental methodology which is at odds with accountable and democratic decision-making. Parliament should examine how some of the new features can be incorporated into the existing legislative package on economic governance.”