Wall Street Journal
February 22, 2011
The European Central Bank on Tuesday threw down the gauntlet to euro-zone governments, challenging them to surrender their powers to stop or slow down the European Union's disciplinary processes against countries with excessive deficits.
In a document that represents its official contribution to the wide-ranging political debate on reform of the euro zone's governance, the ECB reaffirmed its long-standing view that governments need to accept a legal framework of sanctions intended to prevent them from destabilizing the euro zone by running big fiscal deficits.
Heads of government hope to reach a reform deal at their meeting in March, but their finance ministers have made little headway in bridging divisions between them.
The bank argued that the European Council, which is made up of representatives of governments, "should have less room for halting or suspending procedures against the member states." The ECB said the Council should declare in advance that it will not challenge or stop the European Commission as it applies penalties under its excessive deficit procedure.
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