EUROPEAN COMMISSION:Completing the Economic and Monetary Union and mobility

Completing the Economic and Monetary Union and mobility

Commission sets out possible ways forward for deepening the Economic and Monetary Union and takes action for competitive and socially fair mobility.  

Reflection Paper on deepening Economic and Monetary Union

Following the Commission's White Paper on the Future of Europe presented on 1 March, the Commission sets out possible ways forward for deepening Europe's Economic and Monetary Union.

The reflection paper presented today builds on the Five Presidents' Report of June 2015 and is intended to stimulate the debate on the Economic and Monetary Union and to help reach a shared vision of its future design.

Paying due attention to the debates in Member States and to the views of other EU institutions, the paper sets out concrete steps that could be taken by the European elections in 2019, as well as a series of options for the following years, when the architecture of the Economic and Monetary Union would be completed.

Important steps are needed to complete a genuine Financial Union, achieve a more integrated Economic and Fiscal Union and anchor democratic accountability into strengthened euro area institutions.

The options proposed in the reflection paper are intended to help build a broad consensus on how to take on the challenges ahead and to give a fresh impetus to this important debate.

For the Commission, completing the Economic and Monetary Union is not an end in itself but is needed to provide jobs, growth, social fairness, economic convergence and financial stability. Responsibility and solidarity, risk reduction and risk-sharing will have to go hand in hand. The Economic and Monetary Union should remain open to all EU Member States, and the decision-making process must become more transparent and democratically accountable.

Actions for competitive and socially-fair transport mobility in the Single Market

The European transport system is undergoing major changes: We are shifting to a more integrated and multimodal mobility system, which requires a more comprehensive and cross-cutting approach, embracing a wide range of policy areas at EU level.

Today, the European Commission has taken action to modernise European mobility and transport. The aim is to help the sector to remain competitive in a socially fair transition towards clean energy and digitisation.

'Europe on the Move' is a wide-ranging set of initiatives with which the Commission aims to shape the road and mobility systems of the future, boost competitiveness, strengthen social fairness and firmly put transport on the path towards zero emissions.

More concretely, the Commission's proposals will contribute to the reduction of air pollutants and CO2 emissions as well as noise and congestion from transport. This will improve health and living conditions of European citizens. Road users will also benefit from expected improvements in road safety due to better social conditions of professional drivers, notably proper rest periods and better enforcement.