–Says No Majority For German Proposal On Voting Rights Suspension
–Will Resist Merkel, Sarkozy Compromise On Stability Pact Reform
BERLIN (MNI) – German demands for a temporary suspension of voting
rights in the European Union for member states that breach the Stability
and Growth Pact will not find the required votes, Eurogroup President
Jean-Claude Juncker said in a newspaper interview to be published
Thursday.
“To put it clearly: a suspension of voting rights for budget
violators is not a viable way, and on this topic I rule out any change
of EU Treaties,” Juncker was quoted as saying by German daily Die Welt.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s proposal won’t find the unanimous
support it would require amongst the 27 EU member states, the Luxembourg
Prime Minister and head of the Eurogroup said.
EU heads of state and government will meet on Thursday and Friday
in Brussels to discuss a sharpening of fiscal rules.
Juncker also said he would resist the reform compromise on the
Stability Pact struck by Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in
the French city of Deauville earlier this month. The two agreed to
soften the rules for imposing penalties on fiscally wayward states, by
keeping much of the discretion in hands of politicians rather than
making sanctions nearly automatic.
“This [German-Franco] agreement cannot be accepted because it does
not guarantee a strict stability course [or a] Stability Pact with
teeth,” the Eurogroup president said. Juncker also criticized the reform
proposals of the working group chaired by EU Council President Herman
van Rompuy, saying they are too weak.
“I fear that the Pact will lack teeth in the future,” Juncker said.
He complained that he had not been consulted by Germany and France
ahead of their Deauville deal. “This conduct is absolutely impossible,”
he said.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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