Structured dialogue with Valdis Dombrovskis on economic policy issues, Brexit consequences and financial market regulation at the ECON Committee meeting of the European Parliament

EESC member Petr Zahradník attends the event as co-rapporteur for the new EESC opinion on the euro area economic policy recommendations for 2017

On 9 November 2016, Petr Zahradník, EESC Member and rapporteur, followed the structured dialogue between the EP ECON Committee and Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commission Vice-President for the euro and social dialogue, also in charge of financial stability, financial services and capital markets union. VP Dombrovskis' intervention was focused on several topics of the EU economic policy, the current state of the European economy and many regulatory issues related to financial markets, prudential supervision as well as the efficiency of the banking sector.

With reference to economic policy, the discussion focused on structural reforms. It was stressed that monetary policy could not replace the need for structural reforms. The current extraordinarily accommodative monetary policy with de facto zero interest rates had to be accompanied by long-term fiscal responsibility and structural reforms allowing investments to recover.

Another topic was the country-specific recommendations within the European semester and the need for them to create a clear link with fiscal policy both in the individual Member States and at aggregate euro area level.

Brexit was also debated in light of the recent news that the current conservative government preferred a hard version of Brexit, i.e. outside EEA, EFTA and the customs union. In this regard, VP Dombrovskis stressed that Europe could not be like a menu in a restaurant where Member States pick up the policies they would like to participate in only in accordance with their own national interest.

Mr Zahradník intends to use the insights from that discussion as an input for the new EESC opinion on euro area economic policy (2017), which he is drawing up together with Mr Doz Orrit.