Deense minister van Economische Zaken wil debat over nieuwe banen (en)

Growth, job creation and recovery of the European economies are on the agenda tomorrow when the Minister for Economic Affairs and the Interior, Margrethe Vestager, for the first time sits in the Presidency chair at the ECOFIN meeting in Brussels. The minister hopes for constructive ideas for new reforms that can generate growth and new jobs - also in the short term.

This Tuesday Minister for Economic Affairs and the Interior, Margrethe Vestager, sits in the Presidency chair for the first time when the EU ministers of economy and finance meet.

One the agenda items is “the European Semester and the Annual Growth Survey for 2012” where Margrethe Vestager will lead the debate on how the European governments can implement initiatives and reforms that can generate growth and new jobs - also in the short term - given that the vast majority of EU countries are implementing plans to reduce their public finance deficits.

Margrethe Vestager says:

“We have to apply “smart recovery” to our public finances - in other words, we need to prioritize future growth-friendly spending. At the same time, we have to implement initiatives and reforms that can boost growth and job creation - preferably also initiatives that have an effect relatively fast. I hope that we will have a good debate and that we together will be able to table some good and constructive ideas at our meeting and in the time leading up to the meeting of Heads of State in March”.

The ministers will also follow up on the implementation of the country specific recommendations on excessive deficits.

Margrethe Vestager says:

“We are now taking the first steps towards applying the new rules of the game for sound economic policies. At the ECOFIN meeting, we will assess whether Belgium, Cyprus, Malta, Hungary and Poland comply with their recommendations to reduce their budget deficits. This is an important step towards creating a responsible Europe”.