Eurozone finance ministers' group head Dijsselbloem wants 'realism' over Brexit | Euronews

Eurozone finance ministers met in Brussels on Monday to talk about member states’ budget plans for this year and the problems of Greece’s latest bailout loan on which there is so far no progress.

But with the announcement from London on Article 50 they found themselves commenting on the timing and circumstances of Britain notifying the European Union of its leaving.

Asked for his thoughts, the head of the ministers’ group Jeroen Dijsselbloem said: “I hope for realism. Realism about the sequence of events, realism about what it will cost. Realism about the complexity and the time that will be needed. Up till now I haven’t heard that from the British government. So we will wait and see.”

Italy’s Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan was more upbeat, saying he had discussed Brexit with the Britain’s finance minister Philip Hammond during the G20 gathering in Germany over the weekend: “I have already had the chance to speak with Chancellor Hammond in Baden-Baden, about this. And, I think that of course, the UK and the EU 27 are looking at the issue from different perspectives. But, I think that there is a good spirit of collaboration.”

Padoan has in the past has warned Britain’s exit might not be an “isolated case” unless the European Union responds to the rise of populism.

Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said his country was ready but anxious for Brexit negotiations to begin, listing a number of issues.

He told reporters: “We have the issues on the island of Ireland to do with the peace process, to do with relationships with Northern Ireland, to do with the free movement of people north and south and into the UK, which of course means the maintenance of the common labour market which we’ve had been Ireland and the UK for quite a long time.

There’s a second set of issues to do with trade then. And it’s in our interests that we would come as close to the UK having a free trade agreement with the European Union as is possible, because 1.2 billion worth of trade crosses the Irish sea every week.”

The other issued occupying the minds of the Eurogroup ministers was whether Jeroen Dijsselbloem can complete his term as their president if he loses his job as Dutch finance minister following elections there.

Dijsselbloem, whose term runs until January, is highly regarded by the other 18 euro zone finance ministers and by the European Union institutions, but his socialist party suffered heavy losses in parliamentary elections in the Netherlands last week. It is therefore unclear if Dijsselbloem will remain in the government of liberal Mark Rutte after negotiations on a new coalition.

On that Dijsselbloem said: “As you know, my mandate runs until January. So the formation of a new coalition government in the Netherlands may take some months. So whether there is a gap between the arrival of a new minister and the end of my mandate is too early to say. And in that situation if there is a gap in time between those two then it is up to the Eurogroup to decide how they want to procee".

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble added: “We have a Eurogroup president, he has been elected to serve until 2018. He does his work very well. The Netherlands has an elections result, now coalition negotiations will be conducted. They certainly don’t want any public comments from the non-Dutch, myself included, but Jeroen Dijsselbloem is a good Eurogroup president and his mandate goes until 2018.”

Read more: Eurozone finance ministers' group head Dijsselbloem wants 'realism' over Brexit | Euronews

Greece: Which Side Are You On, Jeroen Dijsselbloem? - by David Lizoain

Just over a hundred years have passed since the greatest failure of European social democracy. The workers’ movement was unable to halt the needless slaughter of World War I. First, Jean Jaures was assassinated, silencing his powerful anti-militarist voice. Soon after, the German SPD voted to authorize war credits for the Kaiser. Proletarian internationalism gave way to social patriotism.

Between the collapse of the Second International during the war and the divergent responses to the Russian Revolution, a rift opened up between socialists and communists in Europe that persists until this day.


Representatives of these two political traditions now find themselves at odds in a Eurogroup presided by Jeroen Dijsselbloem of the Dutch PvdA. The backdrop is one where events in the Balkans have the capability of triggering a much bigger conflict. And once more a situation has arisen where ultimatums issued by the strong against the weak run the risk of only making the conflagration worse.

The key points of disagreement are not technical but political. The eventual size of Greece’s primary surplus, for instance, is important for economic but also symbolic reasons. The real issue is what sort of Europe will emerge out of the ongoing negotiations.

One possible outcome is a deepening of a Europe split on debtor-creditor lines, organized in a manner that leads to an ever-increasing divergence between the core and the periphery. This is a Europe divided into those who give charity and those who beg for alms, as opposed to a Europe with automatic mechanisms of solidarity. This is a Europe acting as a potent incubator for mutual recriminations and rapid breakdowns in good will.

Merkel, Rajoy, and Passos Coelho all favour this outcome. In spite of their different national circumstances, they are united in their preference for a hard line on account of shared preferences and a shared project. The ties that bind them are ideological.

Many social democrats too are reproducing the debtor-creditor fault line. In the midst of the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression, with democracy being hollowed out, with inequality on the rise, and with the far right on the march, social democracy is once more unable to act as a cohesive European actor. And the rise of Syriza has exposed its internal contradictions.

Read more: Which Side Are You On, Jeroen Dijsselbloem?

European Commission: A decisive step towards the banking union

Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who is chairing the intergovernmental conference on certain aspects of the single resolution fund, also participated in the negotiations.

"On behalf of the Presidency, I should like to warmly welcome today's agreement on this key element of Europe's banking union. I sincerely hope that it will open the way for approval by both Parliament and Council within the timeframe we have set on account of the forthcoming European elections," said Greek Minister for Finance Yannis Stournaras.

"The agreed text will now be submitted to the member states, and I hope that they will be able to support it", said the Minister.

The single resolution mechanism regulation will be a key element of Europe's future banking union. It will establish a single resolution board, which will have broad powers in cases of bank resolution, and a single resolution fund. 

The purpose of the mechanism is to ensure orderly resolution of failing banks while minimising impact on taxpayers and the real economy. In principle the resolution mechanism will apply to all banks in the euro area and in those EU countries that choose to participate.

"Together we have made a very important step in restoring confidence in banks as well as in the eurozone. And this at an unprecedented speed. With the banking union, risks will be pushed back to where they belong: to the ones that are taking the risks and benefit from the risks - the financial sector - and not to the tax payer, " said Eurogroup President J.Dijsselbloem.

Once the agreed text of the regulation is approved, the intergovernmental agreement on the functioning of the single resolution fund will be concluded too. 

The complete text of the regulation will be finalised in the coming days and submitted to the Permanent Representatives Committee for agreement. 

The Complete Statement by Minister Yannis Stournaras on the Single Resolution Mechanism

Netherlands freezes hundreds of millions in Ukrainian assets: by Anthony Deutsch

The Netherlands has frozen hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) in Ukrainian assets, Dutch media reported Thursday night, citing the finance minister.

Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem told the ANP news agency the assets were suspect.

The Dutch media reports did not provide any details.

A Finance Ministry official could not immediately be reached for comment.

Read more: Netherlands freezes hundreds of millions in Ukrainian assets: report | Reuters

The Netherlands: Dutch Minister Of Finance Dijselbloem Optimistic About Dutch Economic Recovery

Next year there will absolutely be economic growth said Dutch Treasury Secretary Jeroen Dijsselbloem (PvdA) Monday during a party meeting in Amsterdam. '

"But the annual explosive growth rate we had in the 1990s will  not return anymore, and  I don't want this either, because it was not sustainable growth" said Dijselbloem '

The Dutch Office For Economic Policy Analysis (CPB)  reported last week that the Dutch economy will grow by 0.75 percent in 2014, but in that estimate the new austerity package of EUR 6 billion was not included.

It is generally assumed that the new austerity measures and tax increases will slow down the economic recovery said  Dijselbloem , but he reckoned that  the Netherlands will still show some growth next year.

Dijselbloem  also said one of the major difficulties at the moment for the Dutch economy was the depressed housing market.  He said it was not his intention to give any advice or make an appeal for people to spend money, but said he considered this to be an excellent time to buy a home with interest rates at rock bottom before interest rates go up again.

Almere-Digest

France, Germany want permanent position to run EU economic policy and Dijsselbloem could be on way out

France and Germany have thrown their weight behind creating a permanent president for economic policy in the euro zone, a role that would mark a fundamental overhaul of how the currency bloc is managed.

Their backing calls into question the performance of Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who was appointed chairman of the Eurogroup of finance ministers of the 17-nation currency area in January, to serve initially for 2-1/2 years.

Dijsselbloem, who succeeded Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, has unsettled financial markets since taking office, especially with comments about Cyprus and how bank depositors could finance future bailouts.

Those views, while supported by some at the European Central Bank and the European Commission, have irked other officials in Paris, Berlin and Brussels.

At a meeting in Paris on Thursday, President Francois Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to propose to fellow leaders appointing a permanent Eurogroup head, which France has long favoured.

Read more: France, Germany look to shake up euro zone leadership - The Economic Times

The Netherlands - Dutchman Jeroen Dijsselbloem elected new Eurozone President

Dijsselbloem (left) and Juncker (right)

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, 46, who has only been the Netherlands' finance minister since November, will now face one of the world's most daunting financial tasks - helping to lead the group of 17 European Union countries that use the euro back to financial stability.

Dijsselbloem replaces Jean-Claude Juncker, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, who held the job for eight years. Juncker, who is also prime minister of Luxembourg, has over the past three years been at the heart of efforts to avoid a breakup of the euro, a currency used by 330 million people. He has weathered all-night meetings and early-morning press conferences with global markets hanging on his every word.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem is a member of the center left labor Party PVDA within the present Dutch coalition government.

Some EU leaders feel the corner has been turned in the effort to save the euro currency.

But at a press conference after the meeting of the eurozone finance ministers in Brussels, at which he was elected, Dijsselbloem cautioned against overconfidence.  "The job isn't done yet, and completion of the banking union is essential," he said.

Despite his inexperience, he will face immediate challenges, including the need to negotiate a bailout for Cyprus, reducing high national debt in some countries as well as crushing unemployment, and growing opposition to austerity in some eurozone countries.

Cyprus is seeking rescue loans of about (EURO)17 billion ($22.6 billion) - almost equivalent to its annual gross domestic product. About (EURO)10 billion would shore up the country's ailing banks, with the remainder meant to keep the government afloat.

The bailout could push Cyprus' debt to 150 percent of gross domestic product, a level economists consider unsustainable for such a small economy.

In creditor nations such as Germany, Europe's biggest economy, the bailout has been met with skepticism amid allegations that Cypriot banks have helped launder Russian money and facilitated tax evasion.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung that it was unclear whether there would be a bailout at all, because it wasn't clear if a Cypriot bankruptcy "would endanger the eurozone as a whole at all."

If Europe and the International Monetary Fund balk at bailing out Cyprus, which accounts for only 0.19 percent of the eurozone's economy, the country could face bankruptcy within months, possibly forcing it to leave the eurozone.

EU-Digest