Addressing German entrepreneurs in Berlin on Friday 8 June, the French finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, reiterated France's ambition of giving the Eurozone its own budget. Work on a Franco-German roadmap on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), to be submitted at the end of the month, continues.
Le Maire's comments echo the interview given by Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, to Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung last Sunday, in which she set out her vision of the future of the EMU (see EUROPE 12033). The French minister took pains to show a cooperative attitude, welcoming Merkel's comments, before stating that he shared her views as to the need to reform the Eurozone to make it into a true Economic and Monetary Union. Although he acknowledged that there was still a lot of work to be done to set in place this Franco-German roadmap ahead of the Eurozone summit of 28 to 29 June, he said that he believes that it can be finished in time.
Again echoing the German Chancellor, the French finance minister called for economic convergence, stating that this is central to the proper functioning of a monetary union.
Completing this Monetary Union must first and foremost be done, he said, by finalising Banking Union through the common backstop of the Single Resolution Fund (SRF), the financial arm of Banking Union, and making progress in discussions on the European deposit insurance system (EDIS). However, Le Maire declined to state whether this backstop role should belong to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which is to be decided upon at the same Eurozone summit (see EUROPE 12034).
However, he warned, all of this work will not be enough and the completion of the EMU will only be possible through a budget for the 19 members of the Eurozone.
Arguing that there can be no accountability without solidarity, Le Maire took position in favour of a budget with two roles: reinforcing the competitivity of the states and economic convergence on the one hand, and supporting investments when any state is hit by an asymmetric economic shock. The latter point follows on from the Commission's proposal 31 May (see EUROPE 12031), but differs in ambition from the institution's proposal, which calls for the stabilisation function to be an integral part of the EU budget and open to non-Eurozone member states. For her part, Merkel did not tackle this question.
Seeking to reassure the Chancellor, Le Maire stressed that France would never support a pooling of existing debts.
In order to present the heads of state or government with a Franco-German roadmap on the future of the EMU by 28 and 29 June, Le Maire said that the discussions would resume on Saturday 9 June. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)