Berlin replies to Washington and Brussels. “It is not possible – said Chancellor Angela Merkel – to artificially reduce the degree of competitiveness achieved by Germany”. The words of the German chief executive come after the accusations by the International Monetary Fund and the US Treasury Department of having aggravated the recession and Europe's findings on the Federal Republic's export surplus.
Germany “managed to emerge well from the crisis and is now under surveillance in Brussels over the size of its trade surplus. We can see how consumption and production trends are in the country, but it would be absurd to reduce the production and quality of our products to meet the demands of Brussels".
The reference is to the criticisms and suggestions arriving from Brussels. Concepts reiterated today also by the Commissioner for Economic Affairs Olli Rehn According to the European Commission, Berlin should increase domestic demand and spending on services. A high surplus, for Europe, means that Germans continue to invest their savings abroad.
“Our imbalance in the Eurozone – replies Merkel – is very, very small, less than 3%. This shows that we have a very balanced situation." And on the accusations of rigidity as regards the maintenance of the public finances of the other member countries, you add: “Sometimes the tenor of certain discussions is surprising. We have a debt of around 80%” against a target, of the Treaties, of 60%: “We do nothing but work to return, in about 10 years, to the parameters to which we are bound”.
