At a time when the IMF appears to be annoyed by the fact that the Greek government submitted the draft budget for 2015 without the approval of the country’s lenders, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble made an unexpected statement, proposing to allow the European Commission the right to veto national budgets that breach eurozone criteria.
More specifically, Mr. Schaeuble said on Sunday in an interview to weekly Focus magazine that the economic and monetary affairs commissioner “should get the right to veto budgets that violate the euro stability criteria” adding that such a development would send “a strong signal that we truly honor our commitments.”
“This will not violate national budget laws. The parliaments of the member states will still be able to decide whether to cut spending, increase taxes or introduce other reforms.”
