EU governance needs a common sense of purpose that goes beyond technical approaches and measures. This is one of the main conclusions of the package of EESC opinions on the future of the European economy. The opinions on Euro area economic policy 2017, Deepening EMU by 2025, EU finances by 2025 and Capital Markets Union: Mid-term Review address current challenges for the EU economy and make specific proposals for tackling them.
Stimulating further economic reform and investment at EU level, restructuring and increasing the EU budget and completing the economic, fiscal, financial and political pillars of our Economic and Monetary Union: these are some of the main recommendations brought forward by the EESC in its package of opinions. The EESC advocates a balanced mix of euro area economic policies with properly interlinked fiscal, monetary and structural components, and calls on the European Council to reconsider its rejection of a positive fiscal stance for the euro area. In the EESC's view, deepening the EMU is crucial in order to better support monetary policy and national economic policies, as well as to strengthen the democratic and social dimension of EU governance. The Committee also welcomes the Commission's proposal to focus on European added value as a basic principle on the spending side of the EU budget, calls for more own resources to fund the EU budget, and urges all Member States to implement the Capital Markets Union speedily in order to provide the EU economy with new impetus and dynamism.
The recently unveiled Commission Work Programme for 2018 shows the Commission's intention to make specific proposals in the areas highlighted by the EESC. (jk)