German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble reacted skeptically on European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s call for the Eurozone’s consolidation.
Speaking to German broadcaster ARD, the German finance minister hailed in principle the objective of extending the single currency across all member states. However, he urged reflection over the Greek experience, warning that member states must not join the Eurozone before meeting the financial prerequisites.
"It is clear that countries must first be able to get by financially even with a stable, hard currency that they themselves can no longer devalue,” Schäuble said, recalling that joining the single currency erodes a traditional instrument of boosting competitiveness.
Germany is going to the polls on September 24.
Currently, the most prevalent scenario is a government that will include the liberal FDP as a junior coalition partner. The party is now campaigning on a platform of shaking off weak links of the Eurozone, starting with Greece, and getting rid of the European Stability Mechanism.
Moreover, Berlin may share the aversion for political integration of the Eurozone championed by France. The idea of debt-mutualization has been vehemently opposed by the Bavarian finance minister, who on Wednesday called the idea a "poison for Europe.”
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/schauble-critical-junckers-call-eurozone-enlargement/
