WRITTEN QUESTION E-0751/04 by José García-Margallo y Marfil (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Streamlining the Commission's coordination of Member States' economic policies.
Date: 2004-03-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: coordination of EMU policies, democratic deficit, economic policy, employment policy, governance

C 84 E/868

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

(2004/C 84 E/0960)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0751/04

by José García-Margallo y Marfil (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 March 2004)

Subject: Streamlining the Commission’s coordination of Member States’ economic policies

The Commission’s attempts to streamline the coordination and consistency of Member States’ economic
and employment policy guidelines have to date not always produced very concrete or functional results.
In spite of these attempts, the process by which the economic policies of the Member States are
coordinated remains extremely bureaucratic, complicated and long-winded, and provides very little room
for public debate, either at European or national level.

Does the Commission intend to undertake a genuine revision of
its methods for monitoring and
coordinating the economies of the Member States, after having conducted a real consultation with the
European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions,
in order to allow the democratic deficit to be reduced?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(14 April 2004)

The Commission has recently announced an initiative for enhancing economic governance in the EU. This
was prompted by the 25 November 2003 Ecofin Council conclusions which showed the need for better
and more effective economic governance. In this context, the Commission is exploring options that could
help raise the effectiveness of economic governance including a new balance between the Broad Economic
Policy Guidelines (BEPGs) and the Stability and Growth Pact as instruments to coordinate economic policy.
This new initiative is evidence of the fact that the methods for monitoring and coordinating economic
policies of Member States are updated and revised if and when needed. The initiative follows last year’s
reform of policy coordination in the context of streamlining the economic and employment guidelines.
The Commission believes that it is conducive both to greater policy coherence through better aligned
coordination instruments and enhanced effectiveness through increased focus on implementation: the new
three-year coordination cycle helps Member States to better implement EU policy guidance that is focused
on key policy issues and derived from thorough analysis and debate.

Policy coordination is a learning-by-doing process and the experiences with streamlining of the economic
and employment policy guidelines are only one year old. The Commission will carefully consider
additional steps deemed appropriate and discuss the matter with all the parties concerned.

(2004/C 84 E/0961)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0752/04

by José García-Margallo y Marfil (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 March 2004)

Subject: Enhancing the image of the euro and the European Union in non-member countries

From reading a number of non-European newspapers,
understanding about the euro and its real economic, political and financial implications.

it becomes clear

that

there is a lack of

As part of the Euro campaign, is the Commission not envisaging measures targeted at professional circles
and universities to improve the perception of the euro at international level and thus encourage its use?