Summary for non-specialists(27 kB)   

As the uncertainty relating to the sovereign debt crisis in some Euro Area Member States continued over the last two years, the extent and potential consequences of the spillovers between euro area Member States' economic, financial and budgetary situations has become increasingly evident.

Building on the Six Pack on economic governance which entered into force December 2011, the European Parliament and the Council adopted two further pieces of legislation aimed at strengthening economic coordination and surveillance in the euro area. The so-called Two-Pack entered into force at the end of May 2013.This paper focuses on the regulation 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 (i.e. the regulation on enhanced surveillance) and attempts to explain the key objectives of the regulation.

First, the regulation makes Member States experiencing severe difficulties with regard to their financial stability or receiving financial assistance on a precautionary basis subject to a new form of enhanced surveillance. Second, the new regulation aims at articulating the financial assistance granted outside the framework of the Union with the Treaty. Third, the regulation aims at creating a system of post-programme surveillance for countries which have received financial assistance, as long as a minimum of 75% of the financial assistance received has not been repaid. Finally, the paper describes a number of provisions outlined in the legislation that aim at increasing accountability and transparency. In particular, this regards the involvement of the national and the European Parliaments as well as the involvement of relevant stakeholders in the new procedures set out in the legislation.