Pier Carlo Padoan, Italian Finance Minister and chair of the PES ECOFIN Ministers’ Network, commented after the meeting: ‘The ultimate end of the European Union is the improvement of life standards for all European citizens. To reach this aim, EU needs more sustained growth and therefore faster job creation, in a contest of social and economic convergence. The framework of rules we develop and adopt together is a mean to ensure that our efforts go in the right direction.
We believe that increasing predictability, transparency, and effectiveness of fiscal rules is key to deliver better results. Moreover, we have to adopt a EU fiscal policy consistent with the economic cycle, especially in times of challenging economic conditions in order to preserve inclusiveness and solidarity.
We have been discussing a number of proposals that should be put on the table urgently on boosting investment, on dealing with the persistent alarming levels of unemployment, on addressing the migration challenge.’
The meeting was also attended by
Pier Carlo Padoan, Finance Minister – Chair Italy
Michel Sapin, Finance Minister – France
Giannis Maniatis (observer), Member of Parliament – Greece
Edward Scicluna, Finance Minister – Malta
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Finance Minister – The Netherlands
Mario Centeno, Finance Minister – Portugal
Peter Kazimir, Finance Minister – Slovakia
Ivan Lesay, State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance – Slovakia
Magdalena Andersson, Finance Minister – Sweden
Karolina Ekholm, State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance – Sweden
Pierre Moscovici, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs – European Commission
Maria João Rodrigues, Vice President of the S&D Group in the European Parliament
Roberto Gualtieri, Chair of the ECON Committee in the European Parliament
Pervence Beres, S&D Group Coordinator for the ECON Committee in the European Parliament
Udo Bullmann, Member of the EP ECON Committee, Head of the S&D German delegation
Constantin Kourkoulas, Head of EU Policy Unity PES