Brussels, 16/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble, wants the European Summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to return to the old idea of a greater role for the EU Economic Affairs Commissioner and wants rapid changes to the EU treaties to reflect this.
German press agency DPA says that en route back from Asia, Schäuble said that greater progress towards budgetary union was required and recommended greater powers for the EU Economic Affairs Commissioner to give him or her the ability to alter national budgets if they fail to meet public debt and deficit criteria. He said the EU treaty should be changed to introduce flexible voting rights and allow the establishment of a type of Eurogroup parliament in order to introduce more democracy, explains DPA. This would mean that parliamentarians from the 17 euro countries would give their views on decisions about the single currency. He feels that only countries that have ratified the Schengen Agreement should be able to vote on Schengen issues. Ideally, added Schäuble, a European convention should be convened in December this year to examine these changes. (LC/transl.fl)