German
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble reacted skeptically on European Commission
President Jean-Claude Juncker’s call for the Eurozone’s consolidation.
Speaking to
German broadcaster ARD, the German finance minister hailed in principle the
objective of extending the single currency across all member states. However,
he urged reflection over the Greek experience, warning that member states must
not join the Eurozone before meeting the financial prerequisites.
“It is clear that countries must first be able
to get by financially even with a stable, hard currency that they themselves
can no longer devalue,” Schäuble said, recalling that joining the single
currency erodes a traditional instrument of boosting competitiveness.
Germany is
going to the polls on September 24.
Currently,
the most prevalent scenario is a government that will include the liberal FDP
as a junior coalition partner. The party is now campaigning on a platform of
shaking off weak links of the Eurozone, starting with Greece, and getting rid
of the European Stability Mechanism.
Moreover,
Berlin may share the aversion for political integration of the Eurozone
championed by France. The idea of debt-mutualization has been vehemently
opposed by the Bavarian finance minister, who on Wednesday called the idea a
“poison for Europe.”
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/schauble-critical-junckers-call-eurozone-enlargement/