德國總理：歐洲國家將建立財政聯盟

德國總理理默克爾星期五在議會發表演說時說，爲了應對歐元區債務危機而採取嚴格的預算監督，歐洲正越來越朝着“財政聯盟”的方向靠近。

默克爾發表這一言論的幾小時前，法國總統薩科齊宣佈，作爲歐洲兩個最大經濟體的領導人，他和德國總理默克爾將在下週提出一項新的計劃，使歐洲擺脫債務危機，並挽救歐元。

薩科齊幾乎沒有透露有關新歐洲形態的細節情況。但是他表示，法、德兩國將努力達成新協議，來取代馬斯特裏赫特條約。

該條約是創建歐盟和1999年啓用歐元的基礎。

歐元目前是17個國家的共通貨幣，但是薩科齊說，“沒有經濟的融合”就不可能有共通貨幣。這顯然是指歐元區應該對區域內的各成員國的預算規劃擁有更大的控制權。

任何條約上的變動都必須得到歐盟27國的批准，歐盟中有10個國家使用本國貨幣。German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a speech to parliament Friday that European nations are moving toward a "fiscal union" with more stringent budgetary oversight in order to deal with the eurozone debt crisis.

Chancellor Merkel's comments came hours after French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced Thursday night that he and Ms. Merkel, as the leaders of Europe's two biggest economies, would offer a new plan next week to rescue Europe from its debt crisis and save the euro currency.

Mr. Sarkozy offered few details of the shape of a new Europe, but said the two countries would push for a new agreement to replace the 1992 Maastricht Treaty that created the European Union and led to the advent of the euro in 1999. It is now the currency for 17 nations, but Mr. Sarkozy said there could be no common currency without "economic convergence," an apparent reference to greater central control over the budgets of individual erozone nations.

Any treaty changes would have to be approved by all 27 EU members, 10 of which have their own currencies.