Economic and Financial Affairs Council

Thursday 27th January 2011 Written Statements

[The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr George Osborne)]

The Economic and Financial Affairs Council was held in Brussels on 18 January 2011. The following items were discussed:

Presentation of the Presidency Work Programme

Hungarian Finance Minister Matolcsy presented the presidency work programme for ECOFIN for the first half of 2011. He identified his main priorities as the European semester, economic governance, financial services and the creation of the European stability mechanism.

Communication from the Commission: towards a Single Market Act

The Council held an exchange of views on the Single Market Act which was published on 27 October 2010 and is out for consultation until 28 February 2011. Ministers had a positive discussion and agreed that it would be important for ECOFIN to continue to engage on those issues that are led by Finance Ministers. The Government support the single market and believe that future reforms should be strongly focused on measures that encourage growth. The Council agreed to re-examine the issue in due course.

Follow-up to the December European Council meeting

The Council took note of the presidency’s plans for the follow-up to the European Council’s meeting on 16 and 17 December which called for work on legislative proposals aimed at strengthening EU economic governance to be accelerated, so that they can be adopted by June this year.

Annual Growth Survey

The Council held an exchange of views on a presentation by the Commission, which covered the main elements of its annual growth survey published on 12 January. The adoption by the European Commission of the annual growth survey will mark the beginning of the first cycle of the European semester. The Government are content with the Commission’s focus on growth, in line with objectives for the single market. ECOFIN will agree Council conclusions on this in February.

Review of draft National Reform Programmes (NRPs)

Ministers discussed a review of member states’ draft national reform programmes (NRPs) which set out member states’ reform priorities and plans. The Government are content with the Commission’s positive assessment of the UK draft NRPs and believe that the focus of all member states NRPs should be on tackling bottlenecks to growth. In March the spring European Council will provide guidance to member states for finalisation of their stability and convergence programmes (budgetary policies) and national reform programmes (structural reforms). Full NRPs are due in April.

Implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact

The Council concluded that action by Malta to reduce its excessive deficit represented adequate progress.

Introduction of the euro in Estonia: Practical experience

The presidency noted that the introduction of the euro in Estonia had gone very smoothly, and warm congratulations were extended.