The Ministers of Economy and Finance of the European Union (Ecofin) have finalized without agreement their meeting on the new fiscal rules that limit the deficit and debt despite having made “progress” and they will resume their contacts tomorrow, although with no sign of reaching an agreement yet.
Several sources consulted by EFE agree that “good progress” has been made in the almost eight hours of negotiations tonight and The Twenty-seven are “close” to the agreement, but it is still necessary to continue “working” to close the proceedings. Other sources add that “consultations” are necessary from both a political and legal point of view, as well as that the Spanish presidency “will reflect tomorrow on how to proceed”, without ruling out an extraordinary meeting before the end of the year to try to reach an agreement.
“We have gone as far as we could today. We will continue working in the coming days,” say diplomatic sources, who recall that this is a “complex negotiation” and that there is “will at the table to close an agreement.” “The main elements for an agreement are there, final work needed on text and legal calibration“they add
The discrepancies that still exist between the Member States have therefore forced the end of discussions that were already expected to be complicated at the beginning of the day even though the initial idea was to work all night in search of an agreement.
The meeting, whose sole objective was unraveling the reform of the Stability Pact, began around 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and throughout the night several rounds of debates took place with the Twenty-Seven in the room, separated by pauses in which contacts took place at a bilateral and group level. During all this time, the Spanish delegation led by the first vice president of the Government, Nadia Calviño, has been modifying the compromise text that she proposed at the beginning of the day with the aim of bringing the positions of the capitals closer.
The great difficulty lies in combining the positions of Germany and France, especially on the pace of deficit reduction that will be required of countries with a gap between their expenses and their income greater than 3% of GDP. Paris and Berlin agree that partners who find themselves in this situation will have to undertake an adjustment to the structural deficit equivalent to 0.5% of GDP. The difference is that France wants to include additional flexibility that allows this effort to be reduced to 0.3% if the country commits to a series of investments and reforms, something that Germany rejects.
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On the other hand, the Spanish document includes Berlin’s demand to demand a minimum annual cut in the debt of one percentage point for the most indebted countries and also to establish the objective of reducing the deficit to 1.5% of GDP even if the gap is below the 3% set by the Treaties.
In addition, Italy continues to demand that this adjustment be measured with the primary structural deficit, which excludes debt interest from the calculation, and also wants to guarantee that defense investments have special treatment in the new budget framework and that commitments are met. of the national recovery plans ensures an extension of the adjustment period.