Macron Tells Merkel Her ‘Budget Fetish’ Is Hurting Europe
- French president airs grievances to his most important ally
- Merkel sidesteps Macron’s call for a euro-zone budget
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French President Emmanuel Macron urged Angela Merkel to confront the damage that Germany’s obsession with budget discipline is doing to the European project.
“Germany can’t have a perpetual fetish about budget and trade surpluses, because they come at the expense of others,” Macron, 40, said as he received the annual “Charlemagne Prize” from the city of Aachen in front of an audience including the German chancellor.