This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Germany Wants New European Constitution: "There Are New Centers Of Power In The World."
Germany wants to "reignite a debate over creating an EU constitution", Reuters reports, "to strengthen the bloc's ability to fight off financial troubles and counter-balance the rising influence of emerging economies". Guido Westerwelle noted that Germany EU leaders "need a new constitution... as there are new centers of power in the world." A key change that Germany wants for instance is an amendment to incorporate tighter regional oversight of government spending and allow the EU court of Justice to strike down Spain's a member's laws if they violated fiscal discipline. Here comes the 'Pro-Quo' to the Greek Bailout 'Quid'!
Reuters: Germany wants new debate on EU constitution: minister
(Reuters) - Germany wants to reignite a debate over creating an EU constitution to strengthen the bloc's ability to fight off financial troubles and counter-balance the rising influence of emerging economies, Germany's foreign minister said on Friday.
...
"We have to open a new chapter in European politics," Westerwelle told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Copenhagen. "We need more efficient decision structures."
...
"I think we have to reopen the debate about a European constitution again," he said. "We have a good treaty, but we need a constitution ... There are new centers of power in the world."
German government sources said representatives of several EU member states would likely meet in the next few weeks for talks.
Driven by public frustration over financial bailouts for debt-stricken states, Germany has fought hard over the last year to amend the EU's Lisbon Treaty, a watered-down version of the 2005 constitution proposal.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble had said in November that his country wanted to see changes to the EU's Lisbon Treaty by the end of 2012 in order to lay the foundation for a common fiscal policy in the bloc.
Germany argued that change was needed to enshrine tougher fiscal discipline and safeguard the bloc from further financial troubles.
For example, it wanted an amendment to incorporate tighter regional oversight of government spending and allow the European Court of Justice to strike down a member's laws if they violated fiscal discipline.
But Britain vetoed the plan in December in a row over safeguards for its financial sector.
- 14454 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -


This has to be one of the funniest threads I have ever read here....
Nope, the same old one... The Squid Pro Quo.
Jarvis is right: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deiWnZK-duM&feature=related
hmmmm. Obviously not many German taxpayers commenting here on ZH.
I don't see how the German taxpayers have any better options than sharing the Greek burden with the rest of Europe and creating the necessary institutions for that. Not sure it will work, but worth a try.
If it fails, they can still opt for a "core" Eurozone together with the other triple A-ers.
They can't force Greece out of the EU, because that would immediately lead to bank runs in Portugal and Spain, so at best they can make the Greeks want to leave "voluntarily". Loss of Greek budget -sovereignity would be the starting point.