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Germany’s trade surplus put under scrutiny
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The European Commission yesterday placed Germany under scrutiny for its international trade surplus, seen as an obstacle to recovery across the rest of Europe.
“The issue is whether Germany ... could do more to help rebalance the European economy,” Jose Manuel Barroso, commission president, said after placing 15 other countries under scrutiny for failing to meet European Union economic targets.
Barroso was speaking as the commission also ordered “decisive policy action” from deficit-struggler France, Italy and Hungary.
Between now and May, the commission is using new powers to scrutinize the economic programs of the 16 countries to ensure that they are in line with overall coherent economic management of the eurozone and EU economies.
The head of the EU executive said the focus also had to include countries with surpluses considered excessive, after years of concentrated efforts to organize bailouts and drive down public deficits.
“This is not about the EU running economies in place of national governments,” Barroso said.
It is about “ensuring that what is good for individual states is good also for the EU,” he stressed, opening a new phase of what he called “bolder” cross-border economic policymaking.
“Let’s be clear on this, we are not criticizing Germany’s ... success in global markets,” added EU Economic Affairs and Euro Commissioner Olli Rehn.
He said data had shown that “Germans are constantly investing a large part of their savings abroad,” and asked “whether this is deficient even from a German perspective.”
Low-tax, banking-rich Luxembourg’s economy and new EU entrant Croatia, suffering from unemployment on par with debt crisis-battered Greece and Spain, were the other new additions to the list of countries placed under close EU monitoring.
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