BRUSSELS: EU leaders will wrangle over ways to forge a stronger eurozone on Friday, with hopes of sweeping reforms dashed by political limbo in Germany and waning interest. Overhauling the eurozone and making it more resilient to economic shocks has been a top priority of French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker. In the eurozone’s usual political split, rich countries led by austerity-minded Germany are reticent to adopt policies that share risks with their heavily indebted eurozone partners, such as France, Spain, Italy or Greece. “To us, it is more important to make some member states more resilient for the next financial crisis,” an EU diplomat said. “We must use the next six months to reach agreement — particularly France and Germany — which can then spur movement,” the official said.

Source: Manila Times December 15, 2017 03:45 UTC