Germanic Stringency (European Monetary Fund)

Newsletter 2010/03/09 - Germanic Stringency

BERLIN/PARIS/ATHENS (Own report) - The German government is seeking to obligate Eurozone nations to adhere to a rigorous government austerity program by establishing a European Monetary Fund (EMF), as revealed by aspects of a plan made public by the German Ministry of Finance a few days ago. According to this plan, countries threatened with bankruptcy may call for financial help from the EMF, but must, de facto, relinquish their budgetary sovereignty for a period of time. Countries, whose governments do not live up to the EU's financial regulations, will be threatened with painful sanctions, including exclusion from the Euro. With these EMF proposals, the German government is reacting to growing pressure, particularly from Western Europe, to finally establish a wide-ranging European financial and economic policy to confront the crisis. Berlin's proposals run counter, for example, to those of France and are being portrayed in the French press as "thoroughly Germanic". They are designed to enforce throughout Europe Germany's low-wage policy and strict austerity measures in social spending.

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http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/56327