The First Vice-President and Minister for Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, has supported «a realistic and pragmatic fiscal rules reform agenda», as part of the debate on the reform of European economic governance, one of the topics of the economic debate this semester.
After a bilateral meeting with the President of the Eurogroup and Irish Finance Minister, Paschal Donohoe, Vice-President Nadia Calviño defended «a realistic and pragmatic fiscal consolidation framework, with deficit and debt reduction paths adapted to the situation of each country and which strengthens public finances in the long term, while boosting growth, the creation of quality jobs and investment in the double green and digital transition».
The Vice-President stressed the «constructive spirit» of the discussions already taking place in the Eurogroup and the need to «move forward in the coming months at a good pace, with the aim of having a realistic framework while avoiding falling into the trenches and old debates of the past».
Paschal Donohoe hoped that a «common understanding will be reached as soon as possible» and shared the need to approach the issue pragmatically and on the basis of consensus.
They also discussed the need to make further progress on the Banking Union and to agree on a work programme to be developed in the coming months.
«Spain will continue to take a constructive and leading position in the discussions. We will continue to work together on the basis of consensus in order to get the decisions we take right and to channel the recovery», the Vice-President assured.
Focus on economic recovery
Before the bilateral meeting, the Vice-President and the President of the Eurogroup took part in a debate organised by the Elcano Royal Institute on the main opportunities and challenges for the euro area in 2022, with the focus on recovery.
«We are in a phase of strong and sustained economic growth and this will be the year in which the recovery takes off at cruising speed. Spain will be one of the driving forces of the European recovery. This offers us many opportunities to implement the investments and reforms that Spain and Europe need and to ensure that this growth is sustained over time, from an economic and financial perspective, but also from an environmental and social perspective», said Calviño.
European response and Spain’s contribution
The Vice-President stressed that «the response to this crisis has been very different to that of the last financial crisis» and that, in Spain, thanks to the measures implemented, «the recovery is reaching the citizens and is not a passing rebound», as shown by the latest employment figures. «Pre-pandemic levels have been recovered in just 15 months, with figures that we have not seen since before the financial crisis that began in 2008».
Calviño highlighted the coordination of economic policies in the Eurogroup and ECOFIN, which «has been fundamental in providing answers and solutions to citizens, and creating safety nets that maintain the base of the productive fabric, avoiding a structural impact and financial instability».
«The Eurogroup has played a key role in the response to this crisis, and I believe it must continue to do so in this recovery phase. We have dealt well with the response to the pandemic and we have to get it right in this second phase by channelling the recovery and the main discussions that are going to take place in the coming months in the context of the Eurogroup», he concluded.
The President of the Eurogroup highlighted the «exceptional work of the Vice-President» and Spain’s important contribution to the European response to the crisis and to all the European debates underway «which will contribute to the recovery of Europe and Spain».
Highlighting the Recovery Plan and the labour reform
Donohoe congratulated Spain «for being the first country to successfully meet the milestones and objectives of its Recovery Plan, which has allowed for a first disbursement of 10 billion euros by the European Commission in 2021».
He also highlighted the approval of the labour reform by the Congress of Deputies, «an important reform, which will contribute to the recovery and is an important part of the Recovery Plan that is being deployed».