Midday brief, in brief

Today at Commission, economics 101

EU countries told if they are doing well, or not, when it comes to the economy.

The focus of reporters and Commission economists alike at Wednesday’s midday briefing was the latest on the “European semester” — the EU’s attempt to push countries to coordinate economic and social policies.

The Commission published its recommendations for EU states after taking stock of how they have reformed their labor markets, pension systems and banking sectors over the past year.

There was the chance for a bit of naming and shaming, but there were no real surprises.

France and Italy were lightly scolded for having “excessive imbalances” in their national budgets, a lack of strong labor market reforms and, in Italy’s case, for its troubled banking sector.

Pierre Moscovici, a former French finance minister who’s now in charge of the economic and financial portfolio, told his countrymen to make sure the next government pursues economic reforms within the Commission’s guidelines and sticks to the rule on deficit not exceeding 3 percent of GDP.

Asked if the Commission was caught in “a perfect storm” of Brexit, the Greek crisis and a potential Italian banking crisis, Moscovici said no but grasped the maritime metaphor and ran with it, saying the main thing was for the boat [by which he meant the EU] to arrive at the shore.

Germany was also mentioned as Berlin’s trade surplus increased from €244.3 billion in 2015 to €252.9 billion in 2016. Moscovici pushed the German government to increase public investment.

His boss, Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, dodged tricky political questions, merely saying that the EU was heading for “times of uncertainty” and repeating that Brexit will “have negative economic impact not only for the United Kingdom but also the rest of the EU27.”

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It will be up to EU finance ministers to amend the Commission’s recommendations in the coming weeks. Ministers will also decide on whether they should approve a Commission proposal to fine Austria €30 million for misrepresenting data on government debt.

In other news from the college: a white paper on the EU’s future was discussed by commissioners and will be presented ahead of the Rome summit in March. Dombrovskis confirmed the Commission discussed the rule of law spat with Poland but it will take time for the Commission to assess Warsaw’s response to the Commission’s concerns.