Germany Finmin Wants Direct Election Of EU President: Press

— Ex-Bundesbank Chief Axel Weber Calls For More European Integration

FRANKFURT (MNI) – Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble
called for direct elections of the President of the European Union as a
step forward towards a more integrated Europe, German weekly Die Zeit
reported Wednesday.

“As a future vision,” direct elections are “desirable” since they
would further drive European integration, Schaeuble said in an interview
with the paper.

Former Bundesbank President Axel Weber, in a separate interview
with Die Zeit, said that precisely such progress in integration is key
to ensuring that trust in the euro will not be lost.

“Europe cannot afford a backward step. We need closer coordination
of fiscal policies, more power to intervene in national budgets and a
clear commitment to [fiscal] consolidation,” Weber said.

He dismissed talk that Greece might have to leave the Eurozone. “I
believe that, provided there is the political commitment, the euro will
have a future in all countries that currently use it,” Weber said.

Weber lauded his successor at the Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, for
continuing to fight for “stability and a long-term orientation” of
Germany’s central bank.

–Frankfurt bureau; +49-69-720142; jtreeck@marketnews.com

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