EU finance ministers agreed reforms to better fight against a financial crisis on Tuesday that fell short of the original ambitions to relaunch Europe by French President Emmanuel Macron. The agreement between the EU’s 27 finance ministers, without Britain, is intended to hand authorities a more powerful tool box in the event of a major shock to the European economy. The proposals strengthen the financial plumbing of the European economy, but do not include far grander visions such as designating a eurozone finance minister or setting up a European-style IMF. Even so, the ministers negotiated for more than 18 hours with discussions especially tense over the French backed idea of setting up a eurozone budget. The ministers agreed only to discuss the matter again in June 2019.

Source: Egypt Independent December 04, 2018 08:15 UTC