In his speech delivered at the latest Ecofin session in Luxembourg, Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga called upon the European Union not to take into account migration-related expenditures in the calculation of fiscal deficits, as these are extraordinary one-off items.

Urged by several member states – among them Hungary – EU finance ministers discussed how to view extra costs incurred as a consequence of the refugee crisis -- as these are exceptional expenditures -- in a fair manner but in full compliance with fiscal regulations. As a response to the initiative of Mihály Varga as well as the Austrian, Italian and Greek finance ministers that raised the issue, at the event the European Commission expressed willingness to examine the short- and long-term impacts of the initiators’ proposal.

The meeting’s agenda also included the discussion of reservations expressed by Austria with regard to the conversion of Croatian loans denominated in Swiss Francs into Euros. While experts of the European Commission are still evaluating the topic, they have already concluded that the Croatian Government’s scheme violates EU directives, and as a consequence the implementation of a pilot model was also recommended.

In addition, finance ministers reviewed experiences of the 2015 European semester, which acts as a framework for coordinating the economic policies of member states; endorsed the action plan of Capital Markets Union, which is expected to play a key role in, among others, the European financing of SMEs and the boosting of investment; and they also laid down cornerstones of a joint EU standpoint to be presented at the annual meeting of the IMF-World Bank on 9-11 October 2015.

(Ministry for National Economy)