BRUSSELS (MNI) – Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker has expressed
his support for a Franco-German proposal that would give more greater
economic surveilance responsibilities to the President of the European
Council, former Belgian Prime Minister, Herman Van Rompuy.

In a session with Members of the European Parliament, Juncker, who
is also the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, said that as Van Rompuy is
already responsible for chairing the meetings between the 27 heads of
state or government of the EU, “he should without any great additional
workload be able to chair the 17.”

But if Van Rompuy is given greater responsibility for economic
governance oversight in the Eurozone, he should also be held accountable
to the European Parliament, Juncker said.

The proposal does not appear to have gone down well with EU
parliamentarians who would prefer to see more power go to the European
Commission, rather that the leaders of the EU member states.

Although Junker also professed a preference for a greater
centralisation of powers, he warned that individual member states would
likely resist.

“Dont imagine for a moment that governments would be willing to
relinquish any power whatsoever to governing the Eurozone,” he said.

“It would be wrong for us to systematically sideline the commission
from our decision making,” he warned.

The long-serving leader said he did not exclude the idea of a
“European Economics Ministry” but was cautious about how it might work
in practice, the powers it would have over national economies, and also
expressed concerns about a proliferation of parallel EU institutions.

Integration of economic governance with the Eurozone may also need
eventually to include “social measures” such as labour rights and
“perhaps a more common approach to corporate taxation,” he added.

EU parliamentarians are this week expected to approve a legislative
package to tighten the fiscal rules binding euro area economies that
will also introduce new limits on economic imbalances and near-automatic
sanctions for countries that exceed the parameters.

EU member states are also expected to approve the new rules next
month.

Although the ink is not yet even on the page, yet alone dry, EU
officials have already begun discussing further reforms to economic
governance of euro area member states.

The president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, is
likely to give an indication of his opinion when he delivers his ‘State
of the Union’ speech to the European parliament tomorrow, while Van
Rompuy is preparing his proposals for a summit of EU leaders in October.

–Brussels Bureau; Tel: ++32(0)495228374; email: pkoh@marketnews.com

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