Europarlementariërs bespreken crisis met Spaanse en Griekse ministers (en) - Hoofdinhoud

The efforts of debt-stricken Spain and Greece to rein in budget deficits and overcome the crisis will be in the spotlight this week as MEPs discuss with Spanish and Greek ministers the economic policies of the two member states. The meetings today and tomorrow are within the framework of economic policy coordination at the EU level and aim to inject more transparency into how countries plan to tackle excessive imbalances. Follow the meetings live on our webpage.

The economic committee i will meet Luis De Guindos, the Spanish minister for economy and competitiveness, on Monday at 15.00 CET. The following day, Greek finance minister Giannis Stournaras and labour minister Ioannis Vrutsis will speak in a joint meeting of the economic and employment committees starting at 15.30 CET.

The two meetings will be held as part of the so-called economic dialogue introduced in the six pack legislation on economic policy coordination, which allows MEPs to invite national representatives from countries that have been told to correct excessive deficits to an exchange of views at the European Parliament. Members have already had such meetings with Hungarian and Belgian ministers.

A recently published forecast by the European Commission predicts that Spain's economy will shrink by 1.4% year-on-year both this year and in 2013 as budget cuts affect short-term growth prospects. The Greek parliament approved over the weekend an austerity 2013 budget despite more street protests in a bid to ensure the next tranche of EU-IMF loans for the country.

Economic committee MEPs will also speak with taxation commissioner Algirdas Šemeta i on Monday at 16.30 CET.