Regulation 2013/472 - Strengthening of economic and budgetary surveillance of Member States in the euro area experiencing or threatened with serious difficulties with respect to their financial stability

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 140/1

The unprecedented global crisis that has hit the world since 2007 has seriously damaged economic growth and financial stability and has given rise to a strong deterioration in the government deficit and debt position of the Member States, leading a number of them to seek financial assistance within and outside the framework of the Union.

Article 9 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provides that, in defining and implementing its policies and activities, the Union is to take into account requirements linked to the promotion of a high level of employment, the guarantee of adequate social protection, the fight against social exclusion, and a high level of education, training and protection of human health.

Full consistency between the Union multilateral surveillance framework established by the TFEU and the possible policy conditions attached to financial assistance should be enshrined in Union law. The economic and financial integration of all Member States, in particular those whose currency is the euro, calls for enhanced surveillance to prevent contagion from a Member State experiencing or threatened with serious difficulties with respect to its financial stability to the rest of the euro area and, more broadly, to the Union as a whole.

The intensity of economic and budgetary surveillance should be commensurate with, and proportionate to, the severity of the financial difficulties encountered and should take due account of the nature of the financial assistance received, which may range from mere precautionary support based on eligibility conditions to a full macroeconomic adjustment programme involving strict policy conditionality. Any macroeconomic adjustment programme should take into account the national reform programme of the Member State concerned in the context of the Union’s strategy for growth and jobs.

A Member State whose currency is the euro should be subject to enhanced surveillance under this Regulation when it is experiencing or is threatened with serious financial difficulties, with a view to ensuring its swift return to a normal situation and to protecting the other euro area Member States against potential adverse spill-over effects. Such enhanced surveillance should be proportionate to the seriousness of the problems and should be adjusted accordingly. It should include wider access to the information needed for a close monitoring of the economic, fiscal and financial situation and a regular reporting to the competent committee of the European Parliament and to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC) or to any subcommittee the latter may designate for that purpose. The same arrangements for surveillance should apply to Member States requesting precautionary assistance from one or several other Member States or third countries, the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM), the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), or another relevant international financial...