Written Ministerial Statement

The Treasury has released the above, dated 18th January 2011.

Concerning the Economic and Financial Affairs Committee (ECOFIN), it is worth noting:

"Presentation of the Presidency Work Programme

Hungarian Finance Minister Matolcsy presented the Presidency work programme for ECOFIN for the first half of 2011. He identified his main priorities as the European Semester, economic governance, financial services and the creation of the European Stability Mechanism." (Emphasis mine)

"Follow-up to the December European Council meeting

The Council took note of the Presidency’s plans for the follow-up to the European Council’s meeting on 16 and 17 December which called for work on legislative proposals aimed at strengthening EU economic governance to be accelerated, so that they can be adopted by June this year." (Emphasis mine)

"Review of draft National Reform Programmes (NRPs)

Ministers discussed a review of Member States’ draft National Reform Programmes (NRPs) which set out Member States’ reform priorities and plans. The Government is content with the Commission’s positive assessment of the UK draft NRPs and believes that the focus of all Member States NRPs should be on tackling bottlenecks to growth. In March the Spring European Council will provide guidance to Member States for finalisation of their Stability and Convergence Programmes (budgetary policies) and national reform programmes (structural reforms). Full NRPs are due in April." (Emphasis mine)

The BBC advises the nation that:

"Ministers say the coalition's proposed EU bill provides sufficient safeguards as it requires a referendum before ""  significant powers"   pass to Brussels." 

And we all know that the inability to fully control the content of a nation's budget and thereafter to administer full economic governance is not a loss of power - don't we? Of course we do!