"Special attention should be given to structural reforms that strengthen growth and improve fiscal sustainability, making better use of the flexibility provided by the current rules of the stability pact". This is the wording agreed by the technicians accompanying the heads of state and government of the EU, who, gathered in Belgium for a crucial summit during which they will also have to elect the new president of the Commission, are still seeking a compromise between the front of those who greater flexibility in the interpretation of the Fiscal compact (headed by the Italian premier Matteo Renzi and by the French president François Hollande) and the front of the reluctant to open a new phase that compensates the rigor with support for growth through the relaunch of investments (headed by the chancellor German Angela Merkel).
In the previous version, the Council conclusions merely indicated the need to "promote" structural reforms with "a more integrated assessment of fiscal and structural reform measures". The link between structural reforms and the use of margins of flexibility in the interpretation of European fiscal rules has therefore been strengthened. It was Renzi who had asked for a new draft of the final document of the Summit. The last word on the text will be up to the Twenty-eight.
