(10 March 2010 – Europe) The European Commission has said it will seek fundamental reform of the management of economic policy in the Eurozone, as it proposes a future European Monetary Fund (EMF).The planned EMF, which has been given support by the German chancellor Angela Merkel, will be more than just a fund designed to bail out ailing members of the eurozone, such as Greece, a spokesman for the commission said.
The proposal would enable Brussels to co-ordinate economic and fiscal policy among eurozone states.
The spokesman for the commission said that the European Commission is looking to deliver a full proposal over the next few months and wants a preventative measure as well as corrective measures to pre-empt the disastrous accumulation of public debt by a eurozone member state.
The spokesman said they also plan to build an institution, which will co-ordinate any remedial action, such as a bail out; what the European Commission wants is to discuss how to enforce the co-ordination of economies and how to co-ordinate the fiscal side, the spokesman added.
The objective is to address the economic imbalances between member states. The yawning gap between the economies of the core eurozone members, such as Germany, and the peripheral states that were exposed by soaring interest rates on Greek government debt and triggering market panic and a sell-off of the euro on foreign exchange markets, the spokesman added.