France and Germany say they have agreement on fiscal rules. One more reason not to sign it
France and Germany have reached a "100%" agreement on how to reform the European Union's fiscal rules, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday after the conclusion of talks with his German counterpart. The news was reported by Reuters.
The EU's two largest countries have been at odds over how to support investment when budget deficits exceed the EU limit. The other member states, which have gathered in two camps behind Paris and Berlin, are standing
Le Maire and German Finance Minister Christian Lindner wanted to agree on a common Franco-German position before a wider meeting with their EU counterparts on Wednesday, likely the last chance to reach a deal before the end of the year.
“This evening we reached 100% agreement with Christian Lindner on the new rules of the Stability and Growth Pact,” Le Maire said in a post on X after the Paris talks.
He added that the agreement, which came after months of negotiations, is "excellent news for Europe, which guarantees healthy public finances and investments."
In a post on investments".
However, neither of the two parties wanted to reveal what this agreement contains, how they managed to reach an agreement with a party that wanted an obligation to the real budget surplus, with the debt decreasing every year, and, on the other hand, who he wanted very broad exemptions for investments. Certainly the fact that both politicians are part of the liberal European group helped reach the agreement.
The fact that the two parties present the agreement as a fait accompli makes, frankly, doubt whether this pact is balanced towards all parties, and suggests that, as always, the two powers have looked after their own interests, but have ignored , or trampled upon, those of others. Frankly, the announcement of the agreement risks not solving the problem, but consolidating the opposing positions.
If Germany and France think they can dominate the EU without listening to other countries, they risk being proven wrong quickly.
Thanks to our Telegram channel you can stay updated on the publication of new Economic Scenarios articles.
The article France and Germany say they have agreement on budget rules. An additional reason not to sign it comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/francia-e-germania-affermano-di-avere-laccordo-sulle-norme-di-bilancio-un-motivo-in-piu-per-non-firmarlo/ on Wed, 20 Dec 2023 14:21:28 +0000.