Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/981272
| SUNDAY • 13 MAY 2018 maltatoday B3 BUSINESS FRENCH President Em- manuel Macron and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker would like to see the position of a common European finance minister created, with the French President arguing that the role should include supervision of a common Eurozone budget. The Commission last year presented ideas for a Euro- pean minister of economy and finance to EU lead- ers. The new role would simultaneously be a vice- president of the European Commission and head of the Eurogroup. Above all, supporters of the idea ar- gue that the new EU finance minister should not mix national with European in- terests but should ensure investment across Europe at the same time as guarantee- ing "budget discipline". According to the commis- sion's job description, the European minister of econ- omy and finance would be a European commissioner but would also chair the monthly meetings of eu- rozone finance ministers, the body that took many of the critical decisions dur- ing the eurozone crisis. The job could be created as soon as November 2019, when a new European commission takes office Creating the office of "Eu- ro Minister of Economy and Finance" will not be able to solve the main problems facing fiscal coordination in Europe. The creation of a European finance minis- ter should by no means be a priority in Eurozone reform. They run the considerable risk of creating a new, im- pressive title with no actual substance. This could ulti- mately end up doing further damage to the reputation of the Eurozone. Some argue that a EU fi- nance minister might in- crease democratic account- ability. The Eurogroup has been meeting for 20 years to informally agree policy. There are hardly any rules at these meetings, which is of course something seized upon by eurosceptics, who argue that the fate of coun- tries like Spain and Greece are being decided behind closed doors. Having a sin- gle EU Finance Minister would create a clear point of contact for affected coun- tries. He or she would then also be responsible for a Europe- an Monetary Fund, which, like the International Mon- etary Fund, should be able to help crisis countries. Creating a finance minister for the EU rather than for the Eurozone is a clear at- tempt to prevent divisions among the 27 countries that will remain in the EU once Britain leaves in 2019. Instead of creating an ill- designed European finance minister role, the Euro- pean Commission should therefore propose to make the Eurogroup president a full-time position with a clear European mandate. A full-time president should defend European interests in the gathering of national ministers. Moreover, she would be the person de- fending jointly-taken deci- sions in national contexts such as national parliamen- tary debates. Finally, such a full-time president should regularly report and explain Eurogroup decisions to the European Parliament – per- haps back-to-back with the President of the European Central Bank, for example Brussels should move away from creating an in- stitutionally and politically ill-conceived finance min- ister position and focus its energy on reforming the EU budget to make it more useful for its citizens. If the EU is serious about improv- ing fiscal governance of the eurozone, beefing up the chairmanship of the Eu- rogroup and establishing greater accountability to the European Parliament will be far more effective. A Euro nance minister concept is a perilous utopia Having interviewed many of Europe's finance ministers, Exante's Patrick J O' Brien thinks that the possibility of a Euro finance minister brings little added value to Europe (First left) Malta's Finance Minister Prof Edward Scicluna at the Eurogroup meeting, convened on the eve of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) in Brussels French President Emanuel Macron and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker