14. Believes that is essential to counter the financing of terrorism in coordination with relevant actors including the LAS and its members; calls for the EU to impose sanctions on all those (governments and public or private companies) involved in direct or indirect financing of terrorist groups including through the transport, transformation, refinement and commercialisation of oil extracted in Da’esh-controlled areas, together with strict controls on financial flows in order to prevent economic activity and exploitation of tax havens on the part of Da’esh; calls for the LAS to do more to ensure that actors in its member states do not i ...[+++]ndirectly finance terrorist group and to monitor its member states compliance with UNSC resolutions 2161 (2014) and 2170 (2014) which condemn any trade, direct or indirect, with IS and associated groups;

11. Welcomes the Commission’s 2012 Report on Public Finances in the EMU and especially the chapter on Fiscal Decentralisation in the EU, which highlights the soundness of a fiscal federalist model that devolves revenue-raising as well as expenditure responsibilities to sub-state authorities; asks the Commission to include such a chapter on the state of sub-state public finances and reforms in next year’s report on Public Finances in the EMU;

11. Welcomes the Commission’s 2012 Report on Public Finances in the EMU and especially the chapter on Fiscal Decentralisation in the EU, which highlights the soundness of a fiscal federalist model that devolves revenue-raising as well as expenditure responsibilities to sub-state authorities; asks the Commission to include such a chapter on the state of sub-state public finances and reforms in next year’s report on Public Finances in the EMU;

Unemployment has increased and public finances have suffered a marked deterioration with higher fiscal deficits and a significant rise in the already high public debt.

As regards criteria for measuring the long-term sustainability of public finances, the structural deficit indicator is particularly suitable for a long-term assessment in that it measures the state of public finances irrespective of cyclical effects.

What is needed in order to consolidate the long-term sustainability of public finance is a three-pillar strategy, in other words a combination of reform of the pension and health care system, reduction of state debt and enhanced employment and productivity, while the quality of public finance needs to be improved by restructuring public budgets with a greater bias towards expenditure that promotes productivity and innovation and builds up human resourc ...[+++]es, and so the country-specific recommendations are a good instrument for moving the modernisation of our economy forward and enhancing the European Union’s ability to hold its own in global competition.