Financial Times
March 2, 2011
Germany and France are pushing for the wrong solution to the eurozone economic crisis by demanding a “pact for competitiveness”, say Germany’s opposition Social Democrats.
The European Union should focus instead on immediate measures to restore confidence in financial markets, including boosting the size of the €440bn ($610bn) rescue facility for debt-laden eurozone states, said Frank-Walter Steinmeier, parliamentary leader of the SPD in Berlin.
The Franco-German initiative also comes in for criticism from Romano Prodi and Jacques Delors, two former European Commission presidents. Writing in today’s Financial Times, they warn the “pact for competitiveness” would be ineffective.
The EU should also concentrate on relieving the European Central Bank of tasks that are essentially fiscal rather than monetary policy measures such as bond-buying in secondary markets, and consider “cautious steps” towards launching European sovereign bonds, Mr Steinmeier, the former German vice-chancellor and foreign minister, said.
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