Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union – College of Commissioners discusses first steps

To mark Stage 1 of the Deepening of Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), which starts today (1 July 2015), the College of Commissioners had a first debate on the “Five Presidents’ Report”. The report entitled “Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union” was prepared at the request of the Euro Summit of October 2014 and the European Council of December 2014 by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, together with the President of the Euro Summit Donald Tusk, the President of the Eurogroup JeroenDijsselbloem, the President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi and the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz. It was presented to EU leaders at the European Council in June. Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President for Euro and Social Dialogue, presented to Commissioners a first roadmap of actions to be taken immediately on the basis of existing Treaties in order to respond to the current challenges to our EMU. He said: “We need to accelerate the work on deepening the Economic and Monetary Union. The Commission will shortly come forward with specific proposals stemming from the “Five Presidents’ Report”. We specifically intend to accelerate completion of the Banking Union and reinforce Europe’s governance framework to enhance convergence and competitiveness.“ The Commission will use the coming weeks and months to consult closely with Member States, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and other European institutions, and calls on all stakeholders to participate actively in shaping the completion of EMU. Full press release in EN, FR and DE and the statement by Vice-President Dombrovskis will be available online.