Steinbrueck (SPD) supports Eurobonds and handing more fiscal sovereignty over to the EU (RTRS)
| Reuters: |
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"Steinbrueck, told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper's that he backed SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel's recent call for common debt issuance and closer fiscal integration. "The party chairman is right about that and the development will go in this direction," Steinbrueck said, adding the European Union will have to be able to intervene directly more strongly than before in the fiscal policies of struggling countries. (...) Steinbrueck, known for his blunt manner, criticized those leaders in Merkel's centre-right coalition who have dismissed the SPD's proposals for common debt issuance as "debt socialism". "They're being featherbrained," Steinbrueck said, adding that the euro zone already had become a 'Haftungsgemeinschaft' (community of liabilities). (...) It is an endorsement fraught with risk for Steinbrueck and the SPD, (...) as opinion polls show an overwhelming majority of Germans are opposed to the issuance of euro zone bonds. Steinbrueck said the euro zone crisis had led to giving the European Union two choices: either the national states give up more of their sovereignty to Europe or move towards a "re-nationalization"." |
| source: Ex German Finance Minister favors joint euro zone debt | Reuters |
