“This week’s summit of European leaders was supposed to deliver big breakthroughs for further eurozone reforms. With political developments in Germany, it had become obvious that eurozone reforms would be pushed onto the backburner, with migrants being the most prominent issue,” ING analysts note.
Key quotes
“The Eurocratic language in the official statement highlights this “extend and pretend” strategy. Phrases like “work should start on a roadmap for beginning political negotiations on the European Deposit Insurance Scheme” or “agree on a term sheet for the further development of the ESM by December 2018″ or “Eurogroup will further discuss all the items” simply show that there is hardly any agreement on anything.”
“There was no mention of a eurozone budget or budget line within the EU’s budget. No mention of a stronger ESM. To be honest, given that European leaders clearly had other things on their minds, this is not necessarily bad news. Given that Eurogroup president Mario Centeno had laid out a broad range of topics, mainly reflected in the Franco-German Merseburg position, the next few months and subsequent Eurogroup meetings will show whether any breakthrough can be achieved.”
“Nevertheless, today’s disappointing outcome does not bode well for these future talks. It also shows that European leaders currently don’t consider eurozone reform to be a topic which wins elections or votes. Simply too technical. Too long-term. Potentially too costly. Perhaps someone should warn them that by delaying, they risk another nightlong European summit, this time on how to rescue the eurozone. And that would definitely be costlier.”
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