European Union Economic Governance

Part of Support and Protection for Elderly People and Adults at Risk of Abuse – in the House of Commons at 5:03 pm on 10 November 2010.

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Photo of Mark Hoban Mark Hoban The Financial Secretary to the Treasury 5:03, 10 November 2010

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point, and I am about to come to that, so his intervention is timely. Given the degree of integration of the European economy, it is in our national interest to support work that looks at the causes of instability and to have in place action to help to tackle them. Over the summer, there have been two parallel processes in Europe. The Commission has its own work stream, which is summarised in the documents before us. However, member states have participated in a separate strand of work on the co-ordination of economic policies under the chairmanship of Herman Van Rompuy. Many of the issues covered are the same, but there are essential differences between the two streams. The Commission's documents detail solutions, and the Van Rompuy work reflects the political agreements reached between member states. The next step is to bring the Commission's proposals into line with the taskforce's recommendations.

I shall deal in more detail with three aspects of the taskforce's work.