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Merkel: EU must be open to treaty changes
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday that European Union members must be open to treaty changes to strengthen joint economic governance in the 28-nation bloc.
Merkel was speaking a day after starting her third term as leader of Europe’s biggest economy and ahead of a visit to Paris, followed by a two-day EU summit in Brussels.
She told parliament the EU needed to work toward more centralized financial and economic governance, where members can be compelled to meet certain fiscal targets, even if treaty changes are needed.
“Since the Lisbon Treaty we have a situation in Europe where everyone says, ‘we can develop everything but we can’t change the treaties’,” Merkel said.
“I don’t think that we can build a truly functioning Europe that way.”
French President Francois Hollande has rejected changing EU treaties, pushing for more pro-growth policies and less austerity within the existing European charters.
Other EU members are also skeptical about renegotiating treaties, which may require referendums.
Merkel, making her case for evolving charters in the EU, said: “We have a situation in Europe where Germany is often accused of resisting certain developments. This is not the case. We are among those who say that we must, if treaties are no longer sufficient, develop those treaties.”
She added: “Those who want more Europe must be ready for new rules on some competencies.”
Addressing the Bundestag legislature, Merkel said that her new government wants Germany, as a founding member of the EU, to continue “to take a responsible role and one that promotes integration in Europe.”
Looking back at 2013, she said: “Europe has made a fair bit of progress on the path to stability and growth,” citing the banking union project, keeping the common currency competitive and the fight against youth unemployment.
“It could reap the first fruits — I stress, the first,” Merkel said, pointing to progress in Ireland, Greece and Cyprus.
But she said Europe’s credibility had suffered because it had often pledged a lot and not done enough — for example, failing to meet spending targets on research and development in order to stay innovative and globally competitive.
The aim now was to ensure countries don’t again plunge into crisis, as they have amid the sovereign debt and economic troubles of recent years, including correcting some of the founding flaws of the EU.
“We say this can be achieved if the necessary structural reforms can be demanded” from member states, Merkel said. “That means we must significantly strengthen the policy coordination... that has so far been non-binding.”
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