CELEX: 31971D0141
Language: en
Date: 1971-03-22 00:00:00
Title: 71/141/EEC: Council Decision of 22 March 1971 on the strengthening of co-ordination of short-term economic policies of the Member States of the European Economic Community

174                              Official Journal of the European Communities
No L 73 / 12                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                27.3.71
                                               COUNCIL DECISION
                                                  of 22 March 1971
              on the strengthening of co-ordination of short-term economic policies of the Member
                                   States of the European Economic Community
                                                    (71/141/EEC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                     and each Member State are to follow in order to
                                                             achieve harmonious economic development.
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the
European Economic Community, and in particular
Articles 103 and 145 thereof;
                                                                                    Article 2
Having regard to the final communique of the
Conference of Heads of State or Government held at           The first examination shall take place as soon as
The Hague on 1 and 2 December 1969, and in                   possible during the first quarter; its object shall be to
particular item 8 thereof;                                   make an assessment of the economic policy followed
                                                             in the past year and to adjust the policy of the
                                                             current year as required by economic developments.
Having regard to the Resolution of the Council and
of the Representatives of the Governments of the
Member States1 of 22 March 1971 on the phased
establishment of economic and monetary union in the                                 Article 3
Community;
                                                             A second examination shall take place in the course
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ;          of the second quarter. Its object shall be :
Having regard to the Opinion of the European                 — to review the economic policy to be followed
Parliament;                                                      during the current year;
Whereas the Resolution referred to above provides            — to lay down appropriate guidelines for the
for a strengthening of co-ordination of short-term               essential elements of the preliminary economic
economic policies that would ensure its being fully              estimates. Within this framework, quantitative
effective ;                                                      guidelines for public budget estimates for the
                                                                 following year shall be fixed before these
                                                                 estimates are finally adopted and shall, taking
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :                                      account of the variations in the size of the public
                                                                 budgets, concern the nature and extent of
                       Article 1                                 balances and also the methods by which these are
                                                                 to be financed or used.
The Council shall hold three meetings yearly for the
purpose of examining the economic situation in the
Community. On the basis of a communication from                                     Article 4
the Commission accompanied, where appropriate, by
proposals for decisions, directives or recommen­             A third examination shall take place towards the end
dations, the Council shall adopt guidelines on               of the third quarter. At this juncture the Council
short-term economic policy which the Community               shall, acting on a proposal from the Commission and
                                                             after consulting the European Parliament, adopt an
                                                             annual report on the economic situation of the
1 OJ No C 28, 27.3.1971, p. 1.                               Community making it possible to set guidelines to be
 ---pagebreak---                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                  175
followed by each Member State in its economic               attention of their parliaments so that it may be taken
policy for the following year.                              into account during the debate on the budget.
                       Article 5                                                    Article 6
As soon as this annual report has been adopted by           This Decision is addressed to the Member States .
the Council, Governments shall bring it to the
                                                            Done at Brussels, 22 March 1971 .
                                                                                              For the Council
                                                                                               The President
                                                                                                M. COINTAT