Friday

8th Dec 2023

Schaeuble: German package of economic reforms imminent

  • German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble (l) has been at the forefront of Europe's response to the crisis (Photo: consilium.europa.eu)

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has indicated that a package of economic reforms to strengthen the EU's rescue fund, co-ordinate EU financial policy and help other member states limit their debts are set to be finalised by Berlin in the coming weeks.

"We want to prevent people from feeling that we are stumbling from one crisis to the next," Mr Schaeuble said in an interview published in the German Tagesspiegel newspaper on Sunday (23 January).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Debate on how to overhaul the EU's temporary rescue fund - the €440 billion European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) - has sharpened this month, with cash and guarantee buffers, designed to ensure a triple-A credit rating for EFSF bonds, restricting the fund's lending capacity to roughly €250 billion.

This, say many analysts, would be insufficient if the EU had to rescue a country such as Spain.

Eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels last week failed to agree on a mechanism to overhaul the fund's current design, with debate centering on an overall increase in 'size' versus an increase in the fund's effective 'lending capacity'.

Despite repeated denials from Berlin, Brussels and elsewhere, a more radical reform to enable the EFSF to buy back eurozone sovereign bonds is also being discussed.

Luxembourgish Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the monthly meetings of eurozone finance ministers, has said it would be a mistake to rule out this option, acknowledging at the same time that stronger EU economies such as Germany must not be asked to contribute too much.

"It would be wrong to create taboos [on the fund's reform], but we cannot overstretch the strong countries," Mr Juncker told Der Spiegel in an interview published on Monday.

The 'buy-back' idea, first raised by the European rescue fund's chief, Klaus Regling, met with general approval from eurozone finance ministers last week, reports the German magazine.

Berlin was quick to react to a pre-release of the interview however, insisting that the proposal will not be one of the measures on the table for agreement when EU leaders meet in Brussels for a summit this March.

The spring summit is scheduled to focus on plans to set up a permanent eurozone rescue fund, with the EFSF set to expire in 2013. A political agreement to tweak the EU's Lisbon Treaty was reached between leaders last December in order to establish the permanent fund.

Mr Juncker is among those who have been critical of German Christian Democrat leader Angela Merkel's response to the eurozone debt crisis so far, with his recent call for a common eurozone bond receiving little support from Berlin.

But the veteran politician saved his strongest criticism for Germany's junior coalition party, the Free Democrats, in the recent interview. "I am angry about the way in which some (FDP) liberals are now gambling away their European policy legacy," he said. "It is painful for me to see that some in the FDP are now flirting with a populist course."

Regional elections in Germany this year have ensured that the eurozone crisis remains a hot topic at the the domestic level, with many German voters concerned they could lose out as a result of loan guarantees to weaker peripheral EU states such as Greece and Ireland.

Spain's Nadia Calviño backed to be EIB's first female chief

With less than a month to go before the start of a new leadership of the European Investment Bank, the world's largest multilateral lender, the path seems finally clear for one of the candidates, Spanish finance minister Nadia Calviño.

Analysis

Is there hope for the EU and eurozone?

While some strengths may have been overlooked recently, leading to a more pessimistic outlook on the EU and the euro area than the truly deserve, are there reasons for optimism?

EU public procurement reform 'ineffective', find auditors

The EU Commission reformed procurement directives to make bids more attractive (and competitive), but the reform has failed, say auditors. Procedures now take longer, and the number of direct awards and individual tenders has increased over the past decade.

Spain's Nadia Calviño backed to be EIB's first female chief

With less than a month to go before the start of a new leadership of the European Investment Bank, the world's largest multilateral lender, the path seems finally clear for one of the candidates, Spanish finance minister Nadia Calviño.

Analysis

Is there hope for the EU and eurozone?

While some strengths may have been overlooked recently, leading to a more pessimistic outlook on the EU and the euro area than the truly deserve, are there reasons for optimism?

Latest News

  1. EU suggests visa-bans on Israeli settlers, following US example
  2. EU ministers prepare for all-night fiscal debate
  3. Spain's Nadia Calviño backed to be EIB's first female chief
  4. Is there hope for the EU and eurozone?
  5. Crunch talks seek breakthrough on EU asylum overhaul
  6. Polish truck protest at Ukraine border disrupts war supplies
  7. 'Green' banks lend most to polluters, reveals ECB
  8. Tense EU-China summit showdown unlikely to bear fruit

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us