German Finance Minister Christian Lindner and his French counterpart Bruno Le Maire on November 8, 2022, in Brussels. CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP
Reform of the euro zone: Berlin calls for a reduction of one point of GDP per year for the most indebted countries.
Germany puts a coin in the negotiations on the reform of the budgetary rules of the euro zone. While an agreement seemed acquired on the edge mid-March, during a meeting of the Ministers of Finance of the Twenty-Seven, Berlin evokes new strict criteria for reducing the debt.
Following the pandemic and the energy crisis, the average debt level in the euro zone fell from 83% of GDP in 2019 to 93% at the end of 2022, after having come close to 100% in 2021. Far from the threshold set at 60% of GDP, with a ceiling of 3% deficit. Maastricht criteria judged “from another century” by Emmanuel Macron in 2019 and suspended since the start of the Covid crisis by the European Commission.
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This exceptional regime must end on 1is January 2024 and the euro zone must adopt new budgetary criteria by then. A reform deemed necessary by all, but which has become a sea serpent for three years. The Commission is preparing to table a legislative project in the weeks…
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