The 17 nations that make up the eurozone need to accept that Europe is in charge, and they need to toe that line when it comes to forging spending and debt deals, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday.
“We seem to find common solutions when we are staring over the abyss,” she said at an event hosted by Deutsche Bank in Berlin, The Telegraph reported. “But as soon as the pressure eases, people say they want to go their own way.”
Member states need to buck and respect Europe’s leadership, she said.
“Europe has the last word in certain areas,” she said, as The Telegraph reported. “Otherwise we won’t be able to continue to build Europe.”
Leaders from the Continent are meeting in two months to talk about a financial union. Germany wants more centralized control, and Mrs. Merkel has suggested the European Union’s commissioner of economics be granted more police powers over the budgets of individual nations, The Telegraph reported.
Her statements came as Germany continues to push for deficit reduction among the members, seeing that as the way to a eurozone fiscal rebound.
France and Poland are among the dissenters. The Polish prime minister, for instance, called it “dangerous” for other European nations to cede their economies to Germany’s model, The Telegraph reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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