Brussels, 28/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - Returning to the exchanges that took place at Eurogroup on the redistribution of the benefits from economic growth (EUROPE 9375), the German minister for finance, Peer Steinbrück, called for the current situation to be re-examined, given the low proportion of wages in the GDP, which is “unsustainable”. On Tuesday, the acting president of the Ecofin Council stated that they should not simply observe wage trends from the point of view of costs, but also from the standpoint of demand. Steinbrück said that “the subject of profit sharing was raised” and could be alluded to more frequently. The French finance minister, Thierry Breton, also recognised that “there are other mechanisms”, not just wages, “particularly profit sharing, share ownership and incentives”. The commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Joaquin Almunia, is not proposing “a specific solution” but on wages, a trend that is in line with productivity, will be decisive. Consequently, “there is room for manoeuvre for wage increases where productivity increases, in the case of a company or sector, not a country”. He added that on the question of redistribution there were “far more instruments than collective bargaining”. He also said that the current situation was untenable. (ab)