“We are in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis due to the Coronavirus and we did right in stretching the public economy to help keep people and businesses afloat. Going forward, we need the European Commission to come up with a credible strategy to roll back the current excessive government spending levels”, said Markus Ferber MEP, EPP Group Spokesman on Economic Affairs, ahead of today’s debate and votes on the European Semester – the framework for EU countries to coordinate their economic policies.
“Opening the fiscal floodgates during the crisis has been easy, but the European Commission has so far failed to present a credible plan to restore sound public finances, now that we can see improvement ahead. Just claiming that we must not withdraw fiscal support falls short of having an actual fiscal plan. Without a credible plan we will be worse off when the next crisis hits”, Ferber stressed.
“If we want Member States to reach the other side of the tunnel, the European Semester can be a powerful tool. But we must not make the mistake of overburdening the European Semester with an avalanche of competing policy objectives. Clarity and focus are key to an effective economic policy coordination amongst the Member States”, Ferber concluded.