EU's finance ministers agree on deepening Economic and Monetary Union
Xinhua, September 10, 2016 Adjust font size:
The European Union (EU) finance ministers agreed Friday during an informal meeting here that the EU must continue in deepening the Economic and Monetary Union.
"We'll create an expert group to deal with several alternatives. It will release a White Book in the spring of 2017, with the Commission outlining possible further moves," stressed European Commissioner for the Euro and Social Dialogue Valdis Dombrovskis.
Slovak Finance Minister Peter Kazimir stated that eurozone and the EU are sometimes viewed as trouble-makers.
"We must put an end to this now. We need to push things forward and continue in an intelligent integration. A complex debate took place on this issue," said Kazimir after the talks, adding that individual ministers exchanged their views on how the deepening of the Economic and Monetary Union should look like.
The ministers also debated issues concerning the European Investment Fund (EIF) and European unemployment insurance.
"Without a stable eurozone we can't speak of stability as such," said Slovak Finance Ministry State Secretary Ivan Lesay. He added that all issues concerning eurozone's stability certainly can't be resolved overnight.
"Things need to be made in a certain order," explained Lesay.
Meanwhile, European Central Bank (ECB) Vice President Vitor Constancio stressed that eurozone countries must observe fiscal rules.
"Whatever is set up must be conditioned by observation of fiscal rules," added Constancio. Endit