BRUSSELS: The ECB’s president warned divided eurozone leaders they risked “a relapse into recession” if they failed to press ahead with structural economic reforms, a message welcomed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
With a recovery coming to a halt in the second quarter and depressed prices reflecting near record unemployment, France and Italy want to shift away from the spending cuts that marked the bloc’s response to the 2009-2012 crisis. But Germany says debt discipline must continue and the European Commission, which acts as a budget policeman, has until next Wednesday to reject 2015 budgets that fail to comply with EU fiscal rules.
France and Italy are pushing for more spending room in their budgets in return for new commitments on structural reforms, and officials say that any changes Paris and Rome make to their budgets are likely to be small.
Many economists say nothing short of a large scale US-style bond-buying programme will revive the economy that is still suffering a hangover from the debt and banking crisis. But European Central Bank President Mario Draghi told eurozone leaders seated around a large oval table in the EU summit’s red marble building that they could not just rely on the ECB.
“We avoided the collapse of the euro with a joint effort. Now our focus should be to act jointly again to avoid a relapse into a recession,” Draghi said, according to his spokesman, who quoted from his speech. “Hope is not a strategy.”
He said a coherent plan for economic growth had to involve “concrete and credible” structural reforms. Laying out a four-pronged strategy, Draghi emphasised that monetary policy was only one part of an economic revival plan, the others being reforms, sound public finances and healing the bloc’s sick banks.
Draghi said he wanted to see governments draw up a reform programme by the next EU summit in December. That appeared to be welcomed by Merkel, who has faced sustained pressure from France and Italy and to some extent the United States and the International Monetary Fund, to agree to more government spending to help the economy.
Merkel told a news conference following the summit that she thanked Draghi “for holding up a mirror for us once again.” “Monetary policy can do some things, that is the job of the independent European Central Bank,” Merkel said. “But if fiscal policy doesn’t react simultaneously, if we don’t improve our economic policies, our competitiveness and our investment climate, then we won’t come out of this unsatisfactory situation,” Merkel said.
The summit underscored how the eurozone has few quick fixes. Merkel said that a mix of private investment, fiscal discipline and openness to fast-growing Asian economies was the way forward.
Reuters
