MNI BRIEF: EU Fiscal Rule Talks Aim For Feb 9 Completion

The European Parliament aims to finalise Trilogue talks with the European Union’s Belgian presidency and the European Commission on proposed reforms to the bloc’s fiscal rules by Feb 9, but parliamentarians and other sources said the timetable would be tight.

“My understanding that since the first political trilogue, most work has been conducted on technical level. During the next two weeks though, five political meetings are scheduled to finish everything by Feb 9 at the latest,” said a parliamentary source, adding that parliamentarians from Socialists and Democrats S+D group in particular would argue against the proposed “deficit resilience safeguard” agreed by member states on Dec 20 and according to which budget deficits must be kept to a maximum of 1.5% of gross domestic product over the medium term.

Member states, however, are unlikely to budge, the parliamentary source said. (See MNI: European Parliament To Seek To Dilute Fiscal Rules)