Merkel’s First Speech After Reelection Hints at Europe Plans

December 18, 2013 Share Print 0

In the first speech of her third term, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged European partners to tackle flaws in their currency union by ceding control over economic policy and making politically sensitive changes to the bloc’s treaty.

Speaking in the Bundestag lower house of parliament a day after her new “grand coalition” government was sworn in, Merkel said progress in countries like Ireland and Spain showed Europe was overcoming the financial crisis that nearly tore it apart.

But she said it was too early to declare victory, describing the 17-member bloc that shares the euro currency as an unfinished project that could not afford to rest on its laurels.

“I know that pushing through treaty changes in the member states can be difficult, but if you want more Europe, you have to be prepared to develop it further,” Merkel said.

“In a world that is constantly changing, we can’t stand there and say that at some point we agreed the Lisbon Treaty and there’s no need to change it again. This won’t work.”

Germany wants closer coordination of economic policy to complement the bloc’s single monetary policy and will push at a summit of EU leaders this week for members to agree binding contracts with the European Commission that would oblige them to take certain economic reform steps.

via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse

Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.