It is now calm in the building opposite the Commission and already last night we got the news from the summit that they had reached an agreement on the fiscal compact. I am very glad to see that Sweden chose to join, though Britain and the Czech Republic, unfortunately, chose to stand outside. The pact will be important in the long run as it puts high demands on Member States to comply with budget rules. The only drawback is that it is not an agreement endorsed by all Member States. In general, in the history of EU cooperation, intergovernmental agreements are not a satisfying solution.
What was even more important from the summit was the discussion about growth and youth unemployment in Europe. All Member States must now prepare a National Job Plan to focus efforts on youth unemployment. The Commission also proposed that all countries should have a Youth Guarantee, similar to the Swedish model, which ensures that all young people are either in a job, in training or in education within 4 months of leaving school. The Commission will also send experts to the eight countries most affected by this problem to see if there is a better way to use the Social Funds to improve job opportunities for young people.
One focal point of the discussions was the internal market where Member States affirmed that completing the Digital Single Market by 2015 is a priority. Creating easier access to finance for small businesses was also suggested during the meeting. It is good that the summit – at last – focused on growth. Austerity and fiscal pacts are all very well but there’s been too much talk about institutional issues and far too little about how we get the wheels rolling again. Starting from this afternoon, the College of Commissioners has a two-day meeting where we will have a follow up to the summit conclusions and continue to talk about growth measures and labour migration.
