College appoints the members of the European Fiscal Board

Following the consultation of all interested parties, the College of Commissioners today formally appointed the Members of the European Fiscal Board. Niels Thygesen was appointed as its Chairman. The other Members of the Board will be Roel Beetsma, Massimo Bordignon, Sandrine Duchêne and Mateusz Szczurek. Building on the Five Presidents’ Report on completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union, the Commission decided last October to set up a European Fiscal Board, as an independent advisory board on fiscal matters. The Board’s role is to evaluate the implementation of EU fiscal rules, to advise the Commission on the fiscal stance appropriate for the euro area as a whole and to cooperate with Member States’ national fiscal councils. Upon request, the Board would also provide ad-hoc advice on fiscal matters to the Commission.Today’s announcement comes after a public call of interest and appropriate consultations with the European Central Bank, the Eurogroup Working Group and national fiscal councils. The Board is independent: the Members are not employees of the Commission and are committed to providing independent advice. The new advisory European Fiscal Board will start work shortly.