BERLIN (MNI) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Monday said that along with
short-term measures to counter the crisis there is need of deeper
European integration over the medium term.
“The world wants to know how we envisage the political union along
with monetary union, and there needs to be an answer in the foreseeable
future,” Merkel told reporters ahead of her meeting here with Barroso.
Germany will be “a very constructive partner” in these talks, she
promised.
Barroso said, “We need to speak about the future of our union,
trying to complete in fact with an economic union the monetary union.”
The Commission president explained that this may include a banking
union: “Some elements of this banking union will be more integrated
financial supervision and also more integrated deposit guarantees.”
Merkel said that systemically relevant banks in Europe need to come
under a “specific European supervision,” adding, though, that “these are
medium-term goals.”
Regarding short-term measures to fight the Eurozone debt crisis,
the chancellor said she would discuss with Barroso how to combine budget
consolidation with economic growth. “For us, these are two sides of the
same coin,” she said.
Barroso said: “We in the European Commission, we believe that to
achieve growth we need sound public finances; that’s why fiscal
consolidation is indispensable. We need competitiveness; that’s why
structural reforms are indispensable. And we also need some targeted
investments. And it is around these lines that we are going to propose
some initiatives for growth.”
Last month EU leaders asked the heads of the European Council, the
Commission, the Eurogroup and the European Central Bank to look into
ways to achieve economic integration among EU and Eurozone member
states.
More details of the plan are to be unveiled by EU leaders when they
meet in Brussels on June 28 and 29.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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