The treaty makes provision for coordination of economic policies among member states, and this will be intensified with the commencement of European Monetary Union and the coming into effect of the stability and growth pact and the new exchange rate mechanism.
A formal stability council is no longer under consideration in the Council of Economic and Finance Ministers — ECOFIN. It is now widely accepted that such a council would be outside the terms of the treaty. The treaty does not provide for separate ECOFIN councils for the participating and non-participating member states. Although it identifies areas where it is appropriate that, within ECOFIN, only the member states participating in economic and monetary union may vote, all member states would have a seat at the table.
It has, however, been suggested that there may be occasions where it would be useful for the Finance Ministers of member states participating in economic and monetary union to informally discuss matters of common interest, and that an informal stability council could provide a forum for such discussion.
There might be benefits from an informal stability council, whereby euro-area Finance Ministers could informally exchange views on matters of common concern to them. I am, therefore, prepared to consider any proposals which may be brought forward. Nevertheless, in considering proposals for such an informal stability council, I would be anxious to ensure that any such arrangements would not be divisive. In particular, they should not undermine ECOFIN or detract from its work.