On 20 and 21 April 2007, at an informal Ecofin meeting in Berlin, the Finance Ministers of the 13 Member States of the euro zone, the President of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, and the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Joaquín Almunia, assess the economic situation in the euro zone.
After the extraordinary meeting of the Eurogroup on 2 May 2010, at which agreement was reached on a financial assistance mechanism for Greece, the Heads of State or Government of the Member States of the euro area meet on 7 May 2010 in Brussels to assess the implementation of the mechanism in the different Member States and to discuss the possibilities for preventing future risks in Europe.
Joint press briefing by Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic, and Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, in Deauville on 18 October 2010, concerning the organisation of economic governance in Europe after the financial crisis.
In this report dated 21 October 2010, the Task Force on economic governance chaired by the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, makes recommendations and concludes that it will be impossible for monetary union in the European Union to function correctly in the long term unless economic coordination is strengthened.
On 11 March 2011, the Heads of State or Government set out the main characteristics of the future European Stability Mechanism that the Eurogroup decided to establish at its meeting on 28 November 2010.
On 11 March 2011, the Heads of State or Government of the euro zone adopt the ‘Euro Pact’, which provides for stronger economic policy coordination for competitiveness and convergence. On the margins of the European Council of 24 and 25 March 2011, six other Member States (Bulgaria, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania) decide to sign this pact, which is annexed to the conclusions of the European Council and renamed the ‘Euro Plus Pact’.
The conclusions of the European Council held on 23 October 2011 focus in large part on the question of growth, identifying a number of key priorities for domestic economic policy. The Heads of State or Government also emphasise the framework established by tools designed to strengthen economic governance in the European Union — namely the Europe 2020 strategy, the European semester, the Euro Plus Pact and the package of six legislative acts on economic governance — and reiterate their determination to monitor their implementation closely.
At their meeting on 26 October 2011 in Brussels, the Heads of State or Government of the Member States of the euro zone manage, after tough negotiations, to adopt a comprehensive package to enable the euro zone to improve its resistance to the sovereign debt crisis and to finalise a second programme of aid to Greece, mainly based on measures to bring the Greek debt down to a sustainable level.
Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council, dated 23 November 2011, on the strengthening of economic and budgetary surveillance of Member States experiencing or threatened with serious difficulties with respect to their financial stability in the euro area.
Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council, dated 23 November 2011, on common provisions for monitoring and assessing draft budgetary plans and ensuring the correction of excessive deficit of the Member States in the euro zone.
Annexed to the conclusions of the European Council, held on 8 and 9 December 2011, the statement adopted by the Heads of State or Government affirms their determination to move towards a stronger economic union by means of a new fiscal compact and strengthened economic policy coordination as well as the development of stabilisation tools to face short-term challenges.