BRUSSELS | By Alexandre Mato | The EU parliament needs to reinforce its economic policy co-ordination to achieve a common fiscal consolidation between Member States. These are the main tasks facing Jean-Claude Junker and his team in the months ahead. EU policymakers must now chart a cohesive strategy to combat growing policy divergences in Eurozone member states.
MADRID | The Corner | New Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Jyrki Katainen –Finnish, as his predecessor Olli Rehn- has pledged pure orthodoxy about the European Stability Pact. In an interview with German daily Die Welt, Finland’s former Prime Minister and now one of the most powerful men in the EU ruled out speculations about creative interpretations of the fiscal framework. Mr Katainen is the same who, during the worst moment of the crisis (Aug 2012), asked Greece and Spain for collateral in exchange for aid and reckoned that some peripherals were introducing major structural reforms that were “simply not being recognized in the market.”