MNI BRIEF: Fiscal Rules Reform Consensus By March - Gentiloni

A consensus among EU states on reform of the EU’s fiscal is possible by March, Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni told a Davos panel discussion Wednesday. “We will then come with concrete proposals,” Gentiloni added, noting that the process of approving and finalizing these would take time.

If the new fiscal regime is not in place by the end of the year when the Escape Clause from the current fiscal rules is deactivated, then the Commission, he said, “would exercise its interpretation” until the new rules are eventually approved. The Commission faces an uphill task to get EU states to approve its plans for reform by March, the Swedish EU presidency did not even put the issue on the agenda of this week’s meeting of EU finance ministers.

Most other states have significant problems with the Commission’s Oreintation Paper issued last November. Germany does not like the larger role which the Commission will enjoy under those proposals, while countries like Italy lament the failure to propose a Central Fiscal Capacity.