Merkel Urges Overhaul of European Union
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for an overhaul of the European Union, advocating closer political ties and tighter budget rules, in her most explicit prescription for ending the debt crisis.
Speaking to her Christian Democratic Union party’s annual congress in the eastern German city of Leipzig today, Merkel said leaders must create a “new Europe” by deepening ties in the 27-nation EU. At the same time, she repeated Germany’s rejection of jointly sold euro bonds.
“The task of our generation now is to complete the economic and currency union in Europe and, step by step, create a political union,” Merkel said. “It’s time for a breakthrough to a new Europe.”
Merkel’s address marks an escalation in her rhetoric as the debt crisis that began in Greece in October 2009 sent Italian and Spanish borrowing costs to euro-era records last week and roiled French markets. After leadership changes in Italy and Greece, the chancellor is turning her attention to shaping the euro and the EU’s future.
“What she means is that either we get more Europe now or the project will die,” Ralph Brinkhaus, a CDU member of parliament’s finance committee, said in an interview. “This means that Germany must give up some sovereign rights and some party colleagues and voters may find this hard to swallow. But there’s no alternative.”
Save the EU
Merkel renewed her warning that “if the euro fails, Europe fails” and said her mission was to save the “historic” EU project.
“Big political changes are now sweeping through the euro zone, putting -- at least for now -- the many skeptical political observers to shame,” said Erik Nielsen, chief global economist at UniCredit SpA (UCG) in London. In Italy, Greece and Spain, which holds elections on Nov. 20, “people want ‘more Europe,’ not less.”
Stocks and the euro declined on concern Europe will struggle to resolve its debt crisis. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 1.2 percent at noon in London, and futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.3 percent. The euro weakened 0.7 percent to $1.3653.
Italy sold all 3 billion euros ($4.1 billion) of five-year notes it offered at today’s auction after former EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti was asked to set up a government.
“The chancellor is saying that she doesn’t want to go down in history as being responsible for the collapse of the euro,” Elmar Brok, a German CDU member of the European Parliament, said in an interview in Leipzig. “She wants to break out now and save the project. To quote the country’s first postwar chancellor Adenauer in 1952: ‘the European nation states have a past only but no future.’”
To contact the reporters on this story: Tony Czuczka in Leipzig via aczuczka@bloomberg.net; Brian Parkin in Leipzig via bparkin@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images
German chancellor Angela Merkel.
German chancellor Angela Merkel. Photographer: Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images
Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it's time to move toward closer political union in Europe to send a message to bondholders that euro-area leaders are serious about ending the sovereign-debt crisis. Linda Yueh reports on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown" with Owen Thomas. (Source: Bloomberg)
Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Niall Ferguson, a history professor at Harvard University and a Bloomberg Television contributing editor, talks about the European sovereign-debt crisis and possible quantitative easing measures by the European Central Bank. Ferguson speaks with Sara Eisen and Erik Schatzker on Bloomberg Television's "InsideTrack." (Source: Bloomberg)
Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Andrew Economos, head of sovereign and institutional strategy Asia ex-Japan at JPMorgan Asset Management in Hong Kong, talks about Europe's sovereign debt crisis and its implications for Asian stock markets. Economos speaks with Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move Asia." (Source: Bloomberg)
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel
Kerim Okten/Pool via Bloomberg
Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel.
Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel. Photographer: Kerim Okten/Pool via Bloomberg
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