Rogoff Says France Key to Political Union Needed to Solve Crisis

France needs an economic overhaul to revive growth and help underpin the political union required to stabilize the euro area, Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff said.

European governments’ policy responses to the debt crisis, such as a “half-hearted” banking union and national budget oversight by the European Commission, aren’t enough, Rogoff was quoted as saying in an interview published in German newspaper Die Welt today. European leaders need to start now with a push toward political integration that includes a European government with taxation powers, he told the Berlin-based daily.