– Eurozone Needs Fiscal Union Or Return To Maastricht
FRANKFURT (MNI) – The European Central Bank’s crisis-fighting
measures pose a risk not only to the central bank’s balance sheet but
also to its independence and credibility, Bundesbank Vice President
Sabine Lautenschlaeger said Wednesday
Presenting the German central bank’s 2012 Financial Stability
Review to the press, Lautenschlaeger called on political authorities to
create a stable framework for the Eurozone that ensures that there will
be no liabilities without control.
Central banks have increasingly been on the front line in the
search for solutions to the crisis, Lautenschlaeger observed. “Central
banks have already done a lot to limit the crisis and have taken on
significant risks: not only financial risks, but also risks for their
credibility and their independence.”
Lautenschlaeger stressed the importance of improving the framework
of monetary union. “A key principle in this context is liabilities and
control must be in balance,” she said. “More joint liabilities must not
come with weak control …rights.”
To ensure a sound framework where control and liabilities are in
balance, the Bundesbank has argued that political authorities must
either return to the rules of the Maastricht Treaty or move towards a
real fiscal union.
However, Lautenschlaeger said she currently sees no political
majority for either solution. “Without a stable framework, crises are
quasi pre-programmed,” Lautenschlaeger warned.
–Frankfurt bureau tel.: +49-69-720 142 Email: jtreeck@mni-news.com
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