Google – AFP, Frank Zeller, 18 December 2013
 |
French
President Francois Hollande (L) talks to German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R)
during their meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on December 18, 2013
(POOL/AFP,
Yoan Valat)
|
Berlin —
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday said European Union members must
be open to treaty changes to strengthen joint economic governance in the
28-nation bloc.
Merkel was
speaking a day after starting her third term as leader of Europe's biggest
economy and just ahead of a visit to Paris, followed by a two-day EU summit in
Brussels.
Arriving
for talks with French President Francois Hollande, Merkel hailed what she
called a "new phase" in Franco-German relations.
"Together,
we want to push Europe forward and make it a strong continent in the
world," she said.
For his
part, Hollande stressed the "Europe needs France and Germany to have a
confident, strong and open relationship".
Earlier,
Merkel had told the Bundestag lower house of parliament the EU needs to work
toward more centralised financial and economic governance, where members can be
compelled to meet certain fiscal targets, even if this requires changes to key
EU treaties.
"Since
the Lisbon Treaty we have a situation in Europe where everyone says, 'we can
develop everything but we can't change the treaties'," Merkel said.
"I
don't think that we can build a truly functioning Europe that way."
Hollande
has rejected changing EU treaties, pushing for more pro-growth policies and
less austerity within the existing European charters.
Other EU
members are also sceptical about renegotiating treaties, which may require
referendums, amid rising euroscepticism in many countries.
Merkel,
making her case for evolving charters in the EU, said: "We have a
situation in Europe where Germany is often accused of resisting certain
developments. This is not the case.
"We
are among those who say that we must, if treaties are no longer sufficient,
develop those treaties."
"Those
who want more Europe must be ready for new rules on some competencies,"
she added.
Merkel was
sworn in for a third term on Tuesday, almost three months after winning
September 22 elections, leading a "grand coalition" with the
centre-left Social Democrats.
Addressing
the Bundestag, Merkel said that her new government wants for Germany, as a
founding member of the EU, to continue "to take a responsible role and one
that promotes integration in Europe".
Looking
back at 2013, she said "Europe has made a fair bit of progress on the path
to stability and growth", citing the banking union project, keeping the
common currency competitive and the fight against youth unemployment.
"It
could reap the first fruits -- I stress, the first," Merkel said, pointing
to progress in Ireland, Greece and Cyprus.
But she
said Europe's credibility had suffered because it had often pledged a lot and
not done enough -- for example, failing to meet spending targets on research
and development in order to stay innovative and globally competitive.
The aim now
was to ensure that in future countries don't again plunge into crisis, as they
have amid the sovereign debt and economic troubles of recent years, including
by correcting some of the founding flaws of the EU, she said.
"We
say this can be achieved if the necessary structural reforms can be
demanded" from member states, Merkel said. "That means we must
significantly strengthen the policy coordination... that has so far been
non-binding."
She said at
the moment, the European Commission sends each EU member reform recommendations
annually.
"The
member states receive these happily -- and here Germany is little better than
others -- and then life goes on," she said.
"However,
there is no obligation, and that's why we want to work toward treaty changes in
future, on the European level."
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