ZEI Monitor: EU Progress 2014-2019
ZEI follows policy progress in the ten areas which have priority for EU institutions over the period 2014-2019:
Commission Priority: A Deeper and Fairer Economic and Monetary Union
Objectives
Making decisions about support for struggling Euro area countries more democratically legitimate, with enhanced parliamentary control at EU and national level
Evaluating support and reform programmes not only for financial sustainability but also for their impact on citizens of the country concerned
Reviewing the fiscal and macroeconomic surveillance legislation (six-pack) and the new budgetary rules (two-pack)
Encouraging further structural reforms in Euro area countries
European Commission Work Program:
2019
Promoting the International Role of the Euro | |
European Pillar of Social Rights
On the 20th of June 2019, the Directive on work-life balance for parents and carers, repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU, entered into force. It is based on a Commission proposal from the 26th of April 2017. The Directive obligates EU member states: 1. to take the necessary measures to ensure that fathers or, where and insofar as recognised by national law, equivalent second parents, have the right to paternity leave of 10 working days that is to be taken on the occasion of the birth of the worker's child. Member states may determine whether to allow paternity leave to be taken partly before or only after the birth of the child and whether to allow such leave to be taken in flexible ways. 2. Likewise, the Directive requires member states to take the necessary measures to ensure that each worker has an individual right to parental leave of four months that is to be taken before the child reaches a specified age, up to the age of eight, to be specified by each member state or by collective agreement. 3. Member states shall take the necessary measures to ensure that each worker has the right to carers' leave of five working days per year. |
2018
Completing the Economic and Monetary Union
On the 31st of May 2018, the European Commission proposed to create a Reform Support Programme and an European Investment Stabilisation Function to strengthen the Economic and Monetary Union for the next long-term EU budget 2021-2027. (Press release) 1. a Proposal for a Regulation on a Reform Support Programme aims to support priority reforms in all EU member states, with an overall budget of 25 billion euro. It comprises three elements: a Reform Delivery Tool to provide financial support for reforms; a Technical Support Instrument to offer and share technical expertise; and a Convergence Facility, to help member states on their way to joining the euro. 2. a Proposal for a Regulation on a European Investment Stabilisation Function is supposed to help stabilise public investment levels and facilitate rapid economic recovery in cases of significant economic shocks in member states of the euro area and those participating in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II).
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Completing the Banking Union
On the 24th of May 2018, the European Commission put forward a Proposal for a Regulation on sovereign-bond backed securities (SBBS). The legal act would enable SBBS, contribute to weakening the link between banks and their home countries and remove unwarranted regulatory obstacles to the market-led development of SBBS. These securities would be issued by private institutions as claims on a portfolio of euro-area government bonds. President Juncker's Letter of Intent at the State of the Union of September 2017 and the Banking Union Communication of October 2017 announced that an enabling framework for SBBS would be proposed by the Commission in spring 2018. Investing in SBBS would help investors such as investment funds, insurance companies, or banks to diversify their sovereign portfolios, leading to more integrated financial markets. (More)
On the 14th of March 2018, the European Commission proposed measures to acclerate the reduction of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the banking sector. Following up the Commissions's Communication from the 11th of October 2017, two legislative proposals were presented: (press release) 1. a Proposal for a Directive on credit servicers, credit purchasers and the recovery of collateral to set common standards for authorisation and supervision and to impose conduct rules across the EU. 2. a Proposal for a Regulation on the introduction of a minimum loss coverage for non-performing exposures amending the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR)
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Creation of a permanent and accountable European Minister of Economy and Finance |
2017
A strong Union built on a strong EMU
1. Legislative Proposal - European Monetary Fund: A Proposal for a Regulation to establish a European Monetary Fund (EMF), anchored within the EU's legal framework and built on the well-established structure of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). 2. Legislative Proposal - Fiscal Compact: A Proposal for a Directive to integrate the substance of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance (TSCG) into the Union legal framework, taking into account the appropriate flexibility built into the Stability and Growth Pact and identified by the Commission since January 2015. The cornerstone of the TSCG is its Title III, which is known as the so-called ‘Fiscal Compact’. 3. Governance of EU Structural and Investment Funds: a Communication on new budgetary instruments for a stable euro area within the Union framework setting out a vision of how certain budgetary functions essential for the euro area and the EU's public finances as a whole can be developed. To that end, the Commission proposed changes to the Common Provisions Regulation governing the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) to use their performance reserve in support of agreed reforms. 4. European Minister of Economy and Finance: a Communication on a European Minister of Economy and Finance spelling out its possible functions. Such a minister could serve as Vice-President of the Commission and chair the Eurogroup, as is possible under the current EU Treaties.
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European Pillar of Social Rights
1. Legislative Proposal - Work-Life Balance for Parents and Carers: The Proposal for a Directive on work-life balance for parents and carers sets a number of new or higher minimum standards for parental, paternity and carer's leave. 2. The Commission adopted a Clarification of the Working Time Directive of the European Parliament and the Council, providing guidance on how to interpret various aspects of this directive in line with a growing body of case law. In addition, the Commission launched two social partner consultations: 3. The first consultation of the social partners concerns modernising the rules on labour contracts under Article 154 TFEU, possibly leading to a revision of the Written Statement Directive (Directive 91/533/EEC). 4. The second consultation of the social partners under Article 154 TFEU addresses a possible action with regard to the challenges of access to social protection for people in all forms of employment.
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2016
Pillar of Social Rights
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European Bank Deposit Insurance Scheme / Completion of the Banking Union
1. a Proposal for a Regulation amending the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) adopted in 2013. 2. a Proposal for a Directive amending the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) adopted in 2013, setting out prudential requirements for credit institutions (i.e. banks), investment firms and rules on governance and supervision 3. a Proposal for a Directive amending the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) as regards the ranking of unsecured debt instruments in insolvency hierarchy 4. a Proposal for a Regulation amending the Single Resolution Mechanism Regulation (SRMR) on the absorption and recapitalisation capacity for credit institutions and investment firms |
2015
A Package on Deepening Economic and Monetary Union
1. a Proposal for a Council Decision on establishing a common euro area representation at the IMF (International Monetary Fund) 2. a Commission Decision on establishing an independent advisory European Fiscal Board
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Compulsory Exchange of Information on Cross-Border Tax Rulings
1. a Proposal for a Council Directive on the mandatory automatic exchange of information between member states on their tax rulings 2. a Proposal to repeal the Savings Tax Directive (2003/48/EC), as this text has since been overtaken by more ambitious EU legislation | |
Action Plan on Efforts to Combat Tax Evasion and Tax Fraud
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ZEI Insights
![]() | Difficulties of Enhancing the Eurozone’s Democratic Accountability – the Status of the European Commission’s Proposals by Maja Kluger-Dionigi No. 64 June 2019 (Download) |
![]() | Eurozone Reform - a View from China by Jiang Yunfei No. 58 September 2018 (Download) |
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![]() | The Crisis Management of Central Banks by Dennis Flück No. 29 September 2015 (Download) |
![]() | A Social Euro and Economic Dialogue: Conflicting Aims by Carla Manzanas No. 14 February 2015 (Download) |
![]() | What challenges lie ahead of the new Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue by Saša Mester No. 14 February 2015 (Download) |
![]() | Juncker’s Priorities: A Deeper and Fairer Economic and Monetary Union by Volker Nitsch No.10 January 2015 (Download) |
Further Publications
Ludger Kühnhardt: Die proto-konstitutionelle Etablierung der europäischen Innenpolitik (ZEI Discussion Paper C225, Bonn 2014) (Download) (Abstract)
Ludger Kühnhardt, Die Europa-Rettung (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 17 March, 2014).(More)