Brussels, 25/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview with six European newspapers on Wednesday 25 January that the sovereign debt crisis has forced Europeans to achieve a totally new level of cooperation, which was the embryo of a new European domestic policy, with the ultimate aim of protecting the euro. She said she respected the fact that countries were making incredible efforts and introducing painful reforms, but Greece was a special scenario because neither the Greeks themselves nor the international community had yet managed to stabilise the situation.
Merkel was at pains to reassure partners that Germany would show solidarity based on European treaties that clearly set out that one country was not responsible for another's debts. She said that eurobonds were not a way of dealing with the current crisis and the most that could be done was to think about them when a much deeper integration had been reached in Europe.
To boost the management of the single currency, the German chancellor said that countries in the euro would gradually be required to transfer other powers to Europe, giving the European Parliament a greater role. She said that after promising dozens of times that debts would be reduced and public finances would be rendered sound, it was time now for these measures to be fairly imposed and the Budget Pact should make sure that these obligations are properly verifiable.
Growth. A few days ahead of the summit on Monday 30 January, Merkel called for greater growth and job creation, along with public spending cuts. She recommended re-assessment of all EU funds not yet allocated to ensure the money was targeted on small businesses and other job creators, jobs for young people, research and innovation. She said it was not good enough that whole professions were not accessible to any but a chosen few. Asked whether Germany's economic power was a break to the expansion of other member states, Merkel said imbalances in Europe had to be gradually corrected while allowing other countries to become more competitive rather than by weakening Germany. In a report, the International Labour Organisation says that the low-pay policy of German industry over the past decade was a structural cause of the recent problems in the eurozone. (MB/transl.fl)