The call is likely to be met
with skepticism if not outright opposition in Germany.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (center) poses for a photo with French President Francois Hollande (3rd left), Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (2nd left), Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat (left), Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades (3rd right), Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa (2nd right) and Spain's State Secretary for the European Union Fernando Eguidazu (right) during a family photo at Zappeion Mansion in Athens, Greece | Milos Bicanski/Getty Images
PARIS — The leaders of seven southern European
countries called for more public spending to boost the European Union’s slow
economic recovery even as their own political weakness undermines the
credibility of their initiative.
Their call on Friday for a “new impulse” contrasted
with the down-to-earth nature of the meetings that EU finance ministers had
Saturday in Bratislava in preparation for the informal EU summit of 27 leaders,
scheduled in the Slovak capital on September 16. U.K.’s Prime Minister Theresa
May has not been invited to the gathering.
On Friday, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras hosted
leaders from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Malta and Cyprus in Athens for the
first ever “Summit of Mediterranean EU countries.” (With geography slightly
stretched in the case of Portugal).
Tsipras was seeking to put on a show of solidarity by
all fiscally challenged countries as he prepares for another round of
negotiations with Greece’s creditors and international institutions over the
disbursement of a €2.8 billion tranche of the country’s bailout program.
The seven leaders’ final statement didn’t mention the
specific case of Greece. Instead, it read like a check list of reforms,
suggested in recent weeks by European officials.
Calls for reinforcing EU’s external borders,
strengthening the security cooperation and beefing up the bloc’s defense
capabilities, as well as getting a grip on immigration again, are included — as
all staples of every EU summit in the past year should be.
However, calls for more public spending to “boost
growth and investment in Europe” are likely to be met with skepticism if not
outright opposition in Germany, which leaders gathered in Athens see as too
focused on fiscal austerity.
Tsipras insisted that the group didn’t want to “split
Europe.” Even though Berlin last week gave some indications that it might
loosen its tough fiscal stance after next year’s elections, it is highly
unlikely to show much enthusiasm for the ideas of the Mediterranean Seven.
Their statement does make sure to mention the need for
structural reforms in order to improve competitiveness in the EU, but it also
calls for doubling the so-called “Juncker plan” on strategic investment in
Europe, the completion of the euro zone’s banking union, and common investment
projects in countries, suffering from the highest levels of unemployment.
The initiative’s main weakness, however, stems from
the political vulnerability of the main leaders who made the trip to Athens.
French President François Hollande only has eight months left in office and
stands little chance of being elected for another term. Italian Prime Minister
Matteo Renzi has taken a gamble by putting his reform agenda for a referendum
in November. Spain doesn’t even have a government and only sent a state
secretary for Europe to the Athens gathering. And all three countries are at
odds with the rules of the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact, which imposes a
3-percent-of-GDP limit on fiscal deficits.
For his part, Tsipras is facing calls to get back on
the reform path after eurozone finance ministers on Friday urged him to make
good on the pledges he had made at a dramatic EU summit last year. Since then,
Athens only implemented two of the fifteen reforms it agreed to, European Commissioner
Pierre Moscovici noted.
Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the finance
minister of the Netherlands, was blunt in Bratislava: “Summer is over, it’s
time to pack up the camping gear,” he said in comments aimed at the Greek
government.
Next week’s informal EU summit in Bratislava — minus
the U.K. — will be convened to examine the bloc’s future after Brexit. It is
expected to come up with the best strategy to avoid a possible domino effect in
the form of referendums that could result in other countries’ departures from
the bloc. However, as important national elections are to take place, both in
France and Germany next year, the summit is unlikely to agree on major policy
initiatives.
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