AFP, Brussels :
EU leaders will wrangle over ways to forge a stronger eurozone on Friday, with hopes of sweeping reforms dashed by political limbo in Germany and waning interest. Meeting without departure-bound Britain, the bloc’s 27 leaders have been tasked by EU President Donald Tusk to speak freely about their often clashing visions for the single currency’s future at a summit widely expected to be dominated by Brexit.
Overhauling the eurozone and making it more resilient to economic shocks has been a top priority of French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker. But Macron’s ambitions have been stymied by political uncertainty in Germany, where a weakened Chancellor Angela Merkel is still trying to form a government after the pro-business FDP party abandoned talks amid doubts about eurozone reform.
In the eurozone’s usual political split, rich countries led by austerity-minded Germany are reticent to adopt policies that share risks with their heavily indebted eurozone partners, such as France, Spain, Italy or Greece.
“When it comes to European monetary union, the divide is-and sorry for this geographical simplification-between north and south,” said Tusk as he arrived for the first day of the two-day summit.
The resistance has blocked Macron’s idea of a eurozone budget and held up the creation of a Europe-wide deposit insurance scheme, the last remaining pillar of the banking union.
“To us, it is more important to make some member states more resilient for the next financial crisis,” an EU diplomat said.
EU leaders will wrangle over ways to forge a stronger eurozone on Friday, with hopes of sweeping reforms dashed by political limbo in Germany and waning interest. Meeting without departure-bound Britain, the bloc’s 27 leaders have been tasked by EU President Donald Tusk to speak freely about their often clashing visions for the single currency’s future at a summit widely expected to be dominated by Brexit.
Overhauling the eurozone and making it more resilient to economic shocks has been a top priority of French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker. But Macron’s ambitions have been stymied by political uncertainty in Germany, where a weakened Chancellor Angela Merkel is still trying to form a government after the pro-business FDP party abandoned talks amid doubts about eurozone reform.
In the eurozone’s usual political split, rich countries led by austerity-minded Germany are reticent to adopt policies that share risks with their heavily indebted eurozone partners, such as France, Spain, Italy or Greece.
“When it comes to European monetary union, the divide is-and sorry for this geographical simplification-between north and south,” said Tusk as he arrived for the first day of the two-day summit.
The resistance has blocked Macron’s idea of a eurozone budget and held up the creation of a Europe-wide deposit insurance scheme, the last remaining pillar of the banking union.
“To us, it is more important to make some member states more resilient for the next financial crisis,” an EU diplomat said.
