Angela Merkel's interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung on Sunday 3 June, in which the German Chancellor presented her proposals on a number of dossiers on the agendas of the Eurozone and European summits of the end of this month, was welcomed warmly overall by the European Commission and the Élysée Palace, although her counterparts remained cautious.
Addressing the press on Monday 4 June, Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas welcomed Merkel's ideas for strengthening the “unity and ability of the EU27 to act in an uncertain and unstable world”. He supports the Chancellor's hopes of concluding negotiations on the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework before the next European elections of May 2019, in response to proposals tabled by the Commission on 2 May (see EUROPE 12013). However, Schinas remained tight-lipped over the substance of Merkel's comments.
The European institution's spokesperson went on to welcome the fact that Merkel has finally taken a position on the future of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), in response to the speech at the Sorbonne by the French President, Emmanuel Macron. The Chancellor is admittedly taking position against a union of public debt, but in favour of the creation of an investment support mechanism with a budget limited to the “lower end of the double-digit billions of euro range”.
The German leader also hopes to take time for a reflection as to whether or not this mechanism should be included in the EU budget. This reflection directly echoes the Commission's proposals of 6 December of last year on the deepening of the EU and of 31 May clarifying the outlines of such a function (see EUROPE 11920, 12031).
Merkel also said that she was in favour of converting the current European Stability Mechanism (ESM) into a European Monetary Fund (EMF), which could give certain states a short-term line of credit (five years) subject to strict socio-economic criteria. However, she made the case for the functioning of a hypothetical EMF to remain intergovernmental, which was unsurprising in view of her address at the most recent Eurozone summit on 23 March (see EUROPE 11988).
Merkel's observations also went down well in France. According to a French source approached for comment on Monday, they are the translation of a “positive commitment” and a “similarity of views” between Paris and Berlin on questions of European sovereignty and the future of the Eurozone. Declining to be drawn too far, however, the same source acknowledged that there was still much work to be done, referring in particular to the Franco-German roadmap to be presented ahead of the European Council at the end of June. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)