THE EU Commission president José Manuel Barroso has reiterated the commission’s primacy in economic policy, saying that the EU executive is the only economic government in the union.
Amid intensive debate among European governments around measures required to reinforce the euro’s foundations, Mr Barroso said some of the member states needed to be reminded that the commission was “the economic government of Europe”.
France and Germany have been at loggerheads over the scale of the measures required to buttress the single currency but Mr Barroso told the European Parliament in Strasbourg yesterday that the ultimate power rested with the commission.
“The commission is the economic government of Europe. That’s the only treaty-compatible reply that’s possible in trade, competition and a large swathe of budgetary surveillance issues – it is down to the commission and it is something that some of our governments should be reminded of from time to time because they haven’t attentively read the treaties it would seem,” he said, although he added that the commission acted in conjunction with the European Council.
His remarks come as European Council president Herman Von Rompuy chairs a task force comprised mainly of finance ministers, which is trying to develop new procedures and rules to strengthen economic co-ordination between member states.
Mr Barroso denied that the EU was engaged in “a fight for competence or grabbing for power”, but noted that the economic policy of a member state was not just a matter for national concern.
“We have seen during this crisis that the decisions taken by one country have a very direct spill-over effect on the other countries, so it makes sense for instance that the member states, when they are preparing their budgets, they know what others are doing as well because there will be an impact of those decisions in their own decisions.
“We don’t want at all . . . to interfere in the sovereign powers of our national parliaments,” he said. When discussing economic policies for Europe, “we have witnessed how interdependent member states are”.
“This is the sensible line that the commission is proposing and we believe now that consensus is emerging along these lines.”
Meanwhile, following the commission’s unanimous adoption of a revised draft agreement which would allow US anti-terror investigators to continued access to European bank transaction data, Mr Barroso said it was in “strict compliance with safeguards on privacy” and protection of personal data.
“It ensures the principle of necessity and proportionality and its purpose is strictly limited to the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of terrorism and terrorist financing.”
A vote on the matter has yet to come before the parliament which rejected a previous draft agreement on the basis that privacy safeguards were inadequate.