Ecofin: Spaans voorzitterschap wil een 'nieuw model' voor economische groei (en)
Vice President of the Spanish government and the Minister for Economy, Elena Salgado. EFE
The agreement reached for the approval, possibly at the next meeting, of a directive on mutual assistance for revenue collection was described as an "important step" by the second Vice President of the Spanish government and the Minister for Economy, Elena Salgado, at the end of the EU Economic and Financial Committee (Ecofin i) meeting in Brussels.
In a press conference at the end of this meeting, shared with Commissioners Almunia i and Kovacs i, Minister Salgado highlighted the priorities of the Spanish Presidency of the EU in the economic sphere and said that they intend to "lay the foundations for solid, co-ordinated economic recovery, in the medium and long-term", and to foster a "new model" of economic growth.
She expressed her wish to see an agreement reached in relation to financial supervision and progress in bringing about legislative reforms and in alternative management funds, and also in crisis management.
Minister Salgado stressed that co-ordination of economic policy and combating deficiencies in the domestic market are needed to overcome the recession and highlighted the need for a strategy to reactivate economic growth.
The European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, the Spaniard Joaquín Almunia, expressed the commission's "total agreement" with the priorities and objectives of the Spanish Presidency, at a time when we are starting to emerge from the crisis, with broad expectations and sights set on the 2020 Strategy.
Commissioner Almunia said that the European Commission was "fully willing to co-operate" and called the Spanish plan for this semester "ambitious but also realistic”.
The Commissioner for the Tax System, the Hungarian Laszlo Kovacs expressed similar views affirming that the action plan of the Spanish Presidency for this semester is "very, very ambitious" and said that it will foster economic recovery and the fight against climate change.
A large part of the Ecofin discussions centred on the case of Greece, with the aim that it reforms its statistical system to prevent incorrect data on deficits and debts being given to Brussels in the future, with "statistical consequences for other countries", according to Commissioner Almunia, who stressed the need to co-ordinate and standardise economic policy.