EU official calls for 'fair and efficient' fiscal discipline

The EU is facing "perhaps its biggest challenge since the end of World War II" in overcoming the economic crisis, a commission official has warned.

Christine Dalby, the deputy head of the European commission's representation in the UK, said the institution was "cautiously optimistic" about the economic outlook at the start of 2011.

"But that didn't last and the debt hangover is placing pressure on the eurozone," she added.

Dalby was among the speakers at a Dods Brussels Briefing event, which was held in London in December and brought together UK and EU officials, MPs and MEPs, policy experts and interested stakeholders.

The all-day event included breakout sessions on the key EU policies affecting the UK, such as financial legislation, active ageing, pensions and the environment.

She told participants that "despite not using the euro, the UK was hit hard by the crisis and is working to put its economy back on a growth path".

With nearly half of UK trade carried out with eurozone members, she said that the British economy is "tightly interlinked" with those using the single currency.

"We need an economic governance framework with fiscal discipline that is fair and efficient," she insisted.

"It must ensure that national and EU economies work together so we can move towards growth."

She added that the "European commission has used several measures to address the sovereign debt crisis", including through the 'six-pack' of economic governance legislation.

"Although the regulatory framework is essential, we also need to create growth," said Dalby.

"Growth and jobs are the priorities: to promote fiscal consolidation, restore lending, tackle unemployment and modernise administration. Finding a way out of the crisis remains the commission's top priority."

A 'living political organism'

Gisela Stewart, the MP editor of Dods' House Magazine and a UK parliamentary representative on the convention on the future of Europe, described the economic crisis as the "mother of all crises, because the single currency not sustainable".

"I'm slightly older than the EU, but have never been so scared in all my life. Tensions are cracking up and we're not facing up to difficulties," she warned.

"The commission should have more power to focus on the single market - national parliaments are not the place."

Elsewhere, Michael Shackleton, the head of the European parliament information office in the UK, used his speech to explain the institutional set-up of the EU under the Lisbon treaty.

"The future isn't fixed simply because the commission has something in its work programme, as parliament doesn't agree with everything," he said.

"The EU is a living political organism. It is not something that can be cast in stone - least of all in terms of its own procedures as these are linked to outcomes."

He also said it was important to acknowledge that "one of the effects of the Lisbon treaty was to reinforce the role of parliament within the legislative politics of the EU".

"The way in which agreements reached are totally different to how they were reached when I was in Brussels," he said.

And he highlighted several agreements reached by member states the week of the event, including: unitary protection for patents; a fairer deal for dairy farmers; rights for foreign workers, and the endorsement of EU-wide protection rules for crime victims.

"This is a very intensive level of negotiation and illustrates that the institutions are not totally paralysed, and that a lot is going on," Shackleton said.

Chairman Jonathan Evans MP, a former MEP and leader of the Conservatives in the European parliament, said his experiences in EU and UK politics had provided him with insight into the legislative processes in Brussels and Westminster.

He highlighted the discussion on the single currency at the last Brussels Briefing event in May, saying this showed the topicality of the events and in drawing attention to issues that are leading the news media.