As you know, I have a strong attachment – to say the least – to a set of binding, quasiautomatic fiscal rules which need to underpin the sharing of a single currency. The “new” Stability and Growth Pact all SGP III – if it can be called this way – should strengthen fiscal surveillance and enforcement of fiscal discipline in euro area countries.
Equally important, reinforced the statistical governance needs to be part and parcel of the framework, and important progress also in this regard is the merit of this Committee’s intervention. The new macroeconomic surveillance framework represents an important addition to the EU surveillance toolbox.