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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.
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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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