German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said not much is possible in Europe without Franco-German agreement. She was defending a deal struck between Paris and Berlin on European budgetary rules, which has been criticized by the head of the euro group of countries.'It is true that a Franco-German agreement is not everything in Europe. But without a Franco-German agreement, not much is possible,' Merkel said in a speech to the German parliament ahead of a crunch EU summit on Thursday.
She also reiterated her demand that the EU treaties should be changed to incorporate the proposed alterations. 'We need a new, robust framework. It must be legally watertight and this will happen only with a change of the treaties,' Merkel said. At a meeting in the French town of Deauville last Monday, Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy agreed to toughen penalties for countries which breach EU budget rules, allowing for their voting rights to be temporarily removed in extreme cases.
Note EU-Digest: Regardless of the opposition to the ideas of France and Germany in safeguarding the EURO , this is basically the only solution to avoid repeats of the disastrous economic developments experienced with Greece and other financially shaky EU member states. Those countries which are not in agreement to participate in developing common economic safeguards to protect the viability of the common currency, should either get out of the EU or change course.
For more: Euro group head hits at Franco-German deal - RTÉ News
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