Aside from approving a second €130 billion bailout for Greece, the EU’s finance ministers also agreed February 20/21 on rules that will give “the EU more powers to scrutinise eurozone countries’ budgets, even before they are approved by national parliaments,” reveals the Financial Times –
The European Commission will be able to deploy its experts unilaterally to countries in need of bail-outs to give technical assistance, along the lines of the “task force” assisting the Greek government by overseeing the implementation of its EU-imposed reforms.
The FT adds that under the new rules -
… the Commission will have wider discretion to issue recommendations about national tax and spending policies, something it usually avoids for countries that are not in breach of existing deficit rules.
The presence of EU teams arriving in countries “experiencing severe difficulties” constitutes a “potentially humbling episode for national governments,” the daily notes.
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