Eurozone finance ministers, the Eurogroup, will try, at their meeting on Monday, to pave the way for a common position on the reform of fiscal rules, a decision to be taken at the EU-27 level on which they hope to reach consensus after their March meeting.
The First Vice-President of the Government and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, will be in charge of defending Spain’s position on this matter, which insists on not delaying the processes so that the reform of the tax rules arrives in time for the spring package.
In addition, prior to the meeting, the minister will hold a bilateral meeting with the Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budgets, Johannes Hahn, with whom she will discuss issues related to the European economic agenda.
The Eurogroup has invited the head of the Agency for the Cooperation of EU Energy Regulators (ACER), Christian Zinglersen, to brief ministers on recent developments in the energy market and his input will be taken into account in the assessment of future fiscal policy challenges.
Based on a note from the European Commission services, ministers will also exchange views on the evolution of euro area labor markets in recent years and discuss policy challenges in the current context of high inflation and longer-term changes related to demographics and the ecological and digital transitions.
Against the backdrop of the two previous discussions, the Eurogroup will exchange views on macroeconomic and financial developments and prospects, taking into account the Commission’s winter forecast and with a view to the in-depth discussion on the fiscal policy guidelines in March, ministers will reflect on the implications for policy coordination in the euro area going forward.
The debate on the reform of fiscal rules will continue at the EU-27 level on Tuesday at the meeting of EU finance ministers, which will focus on reaching a common «embryonic» position that will allow the Commission to put a concrete legislative proposal on the table and start negotiating for a new framework in the spring, several diplomatic sources agreed.
So far, the rapprochement of positions between the Member States has focused on calling for an update of the tax rules that takes into account the specificities of each of the EU economies and what the capitals are now asking for is a more detailed approach by the Commission, since some countries, as is the case of Germany, still consider it «vague».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
