Council Decision
of 29 September 2000
on the composition and the statutes of the Economic Policy Committee
(2000/604/EC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community and in particular Article 209 thereof,
Having regard to the opinion of the Commission,
Whereas:
(1) The Economic Policy Committee (hereinafter "the Committee") was set up by Council Decision 74/122/EEC(1).
(2) The Committee has exercised all the functions hitherto assigned to the Short-term Economic Policy Committee set up by Council Decision of 9 March 1960 on coordination of the conjunctural policies of the Member States(2), the Budgetary Policy Committee set up by Council Decision of 8 May 1964 on cooperation between the competent government departments of Member States in the field of budgetary policy(3), and the Medium-term Economic Policy Committee set up by Council Decision of 15 April 1964 setting up a Medium-term Economic Policy Committee(4).
(3) The Committee is provided for in Article 272 of the Treaty.
(4) The statutes of the Committee should reflect the new institutional environment created by entry into the third stage of economic and monetary union; it seems advisable to maintain the basic structure of the Committee while making the necessary adjustments to improve its functioning and to describe its tasks more precisely.
(5) The task assigned to the Committee shall be without prejudice to the right of the Commission to formulate recommendations or deliver opinions on matters dealt with in the Treaty.
(6) The introduction of the euro reinforces the need for a close coordination of economic policies and sustained convergence of the economic performances of the Member States; according to the resolution of the European Council of 13 December 1997 on economic policy coordination in stage 3 of economic and monetary union(5) enhanced economic policy coordination should include a closer monitoring of macroeconomic developments in Member States and of Member States structural policies in labour, product and services markets, as well as of cost and price trends, particularly in so far as they affect the chances of achieving sustained non-inflationary growth and job creation.
(7) The broad economic policy guidelines and the multilateral surveillance procedure as provided for in Article 99 of the Treaty are at the centre of economic policy coordination; without prejudice to the tasks of the Economic and Financial Committee, the Committee should provide support for the formulation of the guidelines and contribute to the multilateral surveillance procedure in the areas mentioned in this Decision.
(8) The European Council at its meeting in Cardiff on 16 June 1998 welcomed the decision of the Ecofin Council and the ministers meeting in that Council on 1 May 1998(6) to establish a light procedure, fully respecting the subsidiarity principle, for monitoring progress on economic reform.
(9) The resolution of the European Council of 3 and 4 June 1999 launched a process of macroeconomic dialogue at Community level. This macroeconomic dialogue is aimed at improving the interaction between wage developments and macroeconomic policies. The European Council has concluded that the macroeconomic dialogue at technical level should take place in a working party set up in the framework of the Committee in collaboration with the Employment and Labour Market Committee, with the participation of representatives of both committees (including the European Central Bank), of the Commission and of the Macroeconomic Group of the Social Dialogue. The Committee should in particular organise the contribution of government representatives to the dialogue at this level.
(10) The resolution of the European Council of 16 June 1997 on growth and employment(7) called for an enhanced coordination of economic policies to complement the procedure as envisaged in the new title on employment in the Treaty, and requested that the Employment Committee should work closely together with the Committee.
(11) The Treaty provides for the establishment of an Economic and Financial Committee. The tasks of the Economic and Financial Committee are set out in Article 114(2) of the Treaty. The statutes of the Economic and Financial Committee have been adopted by Council Decision of 31 December 1998(8). The Committee should work in close cooperation with the Economic and Financial Committee when assisting the Council.
(12) The Treaty calls for the establishment of an employment committee. Close cooperation with that committee is also required.
(13) The description of the tasks of the Committee is to be without prejudice to any possible future secondary legislation on the multilateral surveillance procedure as provided for in Article 99(5) of the Treaty.
(14) The Member States, the Commission and the European Central Bank should be adequately represented in the Committee. They should each nominate four members.
(15) Members of the Committee should be appointed in their personal capacity and should be guided in performing their duties by the general interests of the Community.
(16) The President of the Committee should be elected for a period of two years. As a rule, this term should not be renewable. It should be possible to extend the term if there is no other candidate for the Presidency.
(17) The membership of the Committee of officials from the European Central Bank and national central banks is to be without prejudice to Article 108 of the Treaty,
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
Article 1
The statutes of the Economic Policy Committee provided for in Article 272 of the Treaty ("the Committee") are hereby adopted.
The text of the statutes is set out in the Annex hereto.
Article 2
Decision 74/122/EEC is hereby repealed.
Article 3
This Decision shall take effect from the day following its publication.
Done at Brussels, 29 September 2000.