The chair of the meeting, S&D Group Vice-President Maria João Rodrigues, said afterwards:
“The meeting expressed its common, strongly held position that meaningful and extensive reforms of the Eurozone are badly needed to safeguard and revive the European economy and the European project.
“We have been following the development of the proposals on reforming the EMU with great interest. We urge national leaders to come back to the debate and progress swiftly with the discussion. Europe cannot afford to lose precious time. Europe must create a strong message against nationalists and populists who want to harm the Union. The reform needs to accelerate. The European social model requires it.
“The network has agreed to a common set of proposals for the deepening of the Eurozone. We need to complete the banking union, with a common deposit insurance scheme and backstop provided by a reformed European Stability Mechanism. The overall economic governance of the Eurozone also needs to change, with democratic accountability and a new focus on upward convergence, sustainable development and boosting wages and economic demand. As part of this, we also need to finally see real steps towards building a fiscal capacity. We urge the European Commission to come forward with an ambitious proposal next week on a eurozone fiscal capacity with a budget line from the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). This is essential to support the economic stability and investment which the Eurozone needs to survive and flourish in the future.
“All of this requires a seriousness of political will and genuine action from across Europe. The process cannot be allowed to stall or finish without meaningful agreement at the EU summit in June. It must be given renewed momentum and continued for the rest of the year if necessary, or else another opportunity for the EU to renew itself will have been wasted.”
