The informal summit of the European Union was such. And in fact, no big news has emerged. The Italian-French axis was strengthened with proposals to stimulate growth, which however continued to see opposition from Germany.
EUROBOND – The French president Francois Hollande and the Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti reiterated the need to issue Eurobonds. According to the Italian premier, the idea of European sovereign bonds is among the strongest ideas to come out of last weekend's G8. Even the president of the EU Commission, José Manuel Barroso, has expressed a favorable opinion in this regard. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel still doesn't want to hear about it. “For now there is the idea from Germany“Hollande explained, “that Eurobonds can only be a point of arrival, while for us they are a starting point“. The two pro-Eurobond prime ministers are not giving up: "We continue to seek a compromise but we are not there yet", added the French president.
TAX UNION – But the President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, pointed out that issuing Eurobonds would make no sense until the Eurozone somehow becomes a true fiscal union. "Eurobonds make sense if there is a fiscal union", he declared, "otherwise they don't make sense". And Monti seemed to be referring to this when he said that for growth "we need to do more", we need "more intense decision-making and greater awareness of the EU".
EIB STRUCTURAL FUNDS and RECAPITALIZATION – France also proposes to mobilize the 80 billion Structural Funds unused and of strengthen the resources of the European Investment Bank.
