FRANKFURT (MNI) – A European finance ministry could help bolster
economic stability and integration over the longer term, European
Central Bank Executive Board member Juergen Stark argued in a newspaper
interview released Wednesday.
“If we want lasting protection for EMU, we need a new push for
integration, more Europe,” Stark told the Germany daily Allgemeine
Zeitung. “We need a European finance ministry.”
This would be a long-term goal and require changes to EU treaties,
he said, according to a summary of the interview released in advance by
the newspaper.
In the meantime, “an informal, neutral council of experts” could
review progress toward fiscal consolidation in member countries and
publish its assessments, he proposed.
This could strengthen peer pressure within Europe, “since ministers
can refer to a neutral view and say: we are following the advice of
experts,” he explained.
–Paris newsroom +331 4271 5540; email: ssandelius@marketnews.com
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