The paper reports:
German and French Finance Ministries have developed a draft plan that would significantly strengthen financial policy cooperation in the EU.It's hard to believe the PIIGS would go along with this. Do the Greeks and Italians want Germany meddling in their affairs? I don't think so. PIIGS bankruptcy seems the only sane solution.
The plan, which has been seen by SPIEGEL, calls for increased monitoring of individual member states' competitiveness so that action can be taken early on should problems emerge. States which have pegged their currencies to the euro -- like Denmark or the Baltic countries -- will likewise be monitored.
'Candid and Serious'
The plan also calls for the European Commission to ensure that the euro group spends more time addressing the finances of its member states. In particular, the paper demands that euro group finance ministers "take more time for candid and serious discussions on the goal of a functioning currency union." German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde have sent their plan to Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the euro group. The idea is to be discussed at the next meeting of euro zone finance ministers in mid-March.
In a Monday interview with the German business daily Handelsblatt, Juncker voiced support for the idea of greater economic oversight of euro zone members. "We need a European economic government in the sense of strengthened coordination of economic policy within the euro zone," he said. "The Greece case makes it clear."
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