José Luis Escrivá, Chairman of the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF), took part today in the tenth meeting of the Network of EU IFIs, which brings together the Independent Fiscal Institutions (IFIs) and representatives of the Directorate General of Economy and Financial Affairs of the European Commission (DG ECFIN). José Luis Escrivá explained AIReF’s experience in terms of external evaluations, as the Institution has already been evaluated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and other organizations such as the Court of Audit and the Hay Derecho Foundation. He explained in particular the external evaluation carried out by the OECD that answers to a personal commitment of the Chaiman and represents good international practice in terms of accountability. Recently AIReF has monitored the status of the recommendations made by the OECD, which can be consulted on the website of the Institution. In the same session, the director of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), Robert Chote, participated in the meeting “External evaluation of the IFIs”. This tenth EUNIFI meeting, was also attended by the director of the European Fiscal Board (EFB), Niels Thygesen, who represented the second annual report of the institution in which the implementation of European fiscal governance in 2017 is analyzed and a new European fiscal rules scheme is proposed. The IFIs exchanged views on their different approaches and challenges to analyze the long-term sustainability of public finances, as well as the review of income elasticities. The IFIs of the EU also maintained their annual meeting with the alternates of the Economic and Financial Committee (CEF). José Luis Escrivá led the first session explaining the European Union’s IFIs recent initiatives and activities. Specifically, the recent statement of the Network of IFIs was addressed claiming for an action at the community level to strengthen and protect these institutions so that they can influence on the fiscal policy debate. Alternates and IFIs also discussed the impact of communication policy.
