Growth and jobs will be a priority of Olli Rehn
euinside, January 11, 2010
A major and most important priority of the former European Enlargement Commissioner and a Commissioner-designate for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn will be growth and jobs, in the context of macroeconomic stability. According to him, the main instrument to achieve this goal would be the new Strategy 2020 which will come forward as a successor of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs which was prepared by the Swedish Presidency of the Union. The approval of the strategy is expected to happen at the informal European Council in the beginning of February.
Olli Rehn also said that, as set out in President Barroso's guidelines, the European Investment Bank can have an important role in stimulating investment to encourage modernisation.
The second priority of the Finnish candidate would be to ensure the sustainability of public finances in the EU, and to improve their quality. In his written answers to the MEPs Olli Rehn has written that a timely and credible consolidation of public finances within the framework of the Stability and Growth Pact as part of a comprehensive "exit strategy" is therefore essential. Separately, the existing tools for coordination of the European policies must be enhanced.
As a third priority Mr. Rehn has set to strengthen the EU's role in international economic relations because the EU has a key role to play at the international level but it will need to establish itself in the emerging new system of global economic governance where the G20 plays an increasingly central role.
The hearing of Olli Rehn in the Committee for economic affairs in the European Parliament has just started. You can expect more details later on euinside.
19:40 Membership to the euro area of thew new EU member states should be organised 
according to the existing rules, Olli Rehn said, replying to a question about the early accession of countries, pegged to the euro like Bulgaria. "I know that there is a debate among economists and lawyers regarding the interpretation of the founding treaties. For me the main thing is that we have to have sustainable public finances and macroeconomic stability. The 5 criteria are in fact indicators that show whether a country responds to the basic requirements like sustainable public finances. I will review all potential candidates in the light of those rules so as to make sure that laws will be implemented", the recent Enlargement Commissioner added.
In this regard the Finnish candidate for a Commissioner for economic and monetary affairs said that he was against the looking for ways some countries like Greece, for example, because of exceeding budgetary deficit and bad fiscal policy to be excluded from the euro area. Olli Rehn assured that even at present the Commission is working together with the Greek government which needs support right now because, otherwise, it will be confronted with more serious instability internally and within the Eurozone.
Olli Rehn insisted also for one single representation of the European Union and especially the euro area in international financial institutions like the IMF and the G20. He promised a recent creation of a detailed exit strategy for the EU, created on a country to country basis, taking into account the specifics of each member state. Education is extremely important, he said, to help Europe exit the crisis and to help create a functioning green economy.