Economics
The Macron-Merkel Euro Plan Is Released. Here's How It Stacks Up
- Joint position sees ESM with bigger role, acting as backstop
- Two sides agree to set up eurozone budget, no details on size
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A long-anticipated meeting between the leaders of France and Germany yielded important progress on the issue of reforming the euro area, with concessions made by both Paris and Berlin. But it also pushed some of the trickiest decisions to later in the year, underscoring the difficulty in bridging fundamental differences over how best to shore up the currency bloc.
While the two sides agreed to set up a euro-zone budget and beef up the role of the European Stability Mechanism -- the euro-area bailout fund -- they postponed decisions on some elements which could prove consequential. Chief among them: specifics on the size and conditions of the euro-area budget.