European Parliament in Brussels: A new agreement is to be reached for the EU debt regulation.
(Photo: imago images/Michael Kneffel)
Berlin The debate about reforming the EU debt rules is heating up. While the EU Commission wants to quickly pour its proposals into a draft law, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) is slowing down. In his view, Brussels’ reform proposals are a major softening of the previous debt rules.
Lindner has now submitted the position of the federal government in a so-called “non-paper” to the EU Commission. In the three-page paper, Lindner draws red lines and introduces his own reform proposals into the debate – which are unlikely to meet with much enthusiasm in parts of Europe.
A reform of the EU rules has become necessary because the debt levels of many EU countries have meanwhile risen far beyond the actually permitted level as a result of the many crises in recent years. If the existing rules were to continue to be applied, some countries would have to pursue such a brutal austerity course that even supporters of fiscal austerity consider wrong.
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