Key points:
The EESC:
- agrees with and supports the Commission's proposal, although it thinks it insufficient;
- believes that the European institutions and Member States should establish an aid programme for euro area countries in difficulty – beginning with Greece – that is more substantial and that has more credibility than what has been proposed up to now;
- calls for greater flexibility in the application of the new European governance of tax and budgetary policy.
The EESC also considers that it is necessary:
- to extend the proposal (the removal of co-financing for Greece) to the whole 2014-2020 period;
- to speed up and bring forward support from the Juncker plan to Greece in order to promote economic recovery, development and employment;
- to simplify administrative procedures;
- to evaluate the possibility of extending these arrangements or similar measures (accompanied by appropriate checks) to other countries that have been worst affected by the crisis and that have a higher rate of unemployment than the European average.