德国前总理提议建“欧洲合众国”

德国前总理施罗德上周日提议建立一个“欧洲合众国”，称欧洲地区需要一个统一的政府以防止未来再次发生经济危机。他表示，目前的经济危机说明没有一个统一的财政、经济和社会政策，就不可能有统一的货币区。他建议在目前欧洲委员会的基础上成立一个政府，即“欧洲合众国”，由欧洲议会对其进行监督。德国现任总理默克尔和法国总统萨科奇此前曾提议在2017年建立欧洲财政联盟，要求各成员国放弃财政预算政策方面的主权，以巩固欧洲货币联盟。不过欧元区其他国家对该项提议均反应冷淡。

德国前总理提议建“欧洲合众国”

Schroeder, a Social Democrat who ran the country from 1998 to 2005, said in an interview with Der Spiegel that European Union leaders were wrong to expect the euro to drive the bloc on its own。

Former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Sunday called for the creation of a "United States of Europe," saying the bloc needed a common government to avoid future economic crises。

Schroeder, a Social Democrat who ran the country from 1998 to 2005, said in an interview with Der Spiegel that European Union leaders were wrong to expect the euro to drive the bloc on its own。

"The current crisis makes it relentlessly clear that we cannot have a common currency zone without a common fiscal, economic and social policy," Schroeder said。

He added: "We will have to give up national sovereignty."

"From the European Commission, we should make a government which would be supervised by the European Parliament. And that means the United States of Europe."

Schroeder, who nurtured a close relationship with France during his leadership, welcomed an initiative launched by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to move toward a fiscal union in 2017.

Their proposal, which would mean giving up sovereignty over budgetary policies with the aim to shore up the 17-nation currency union, has received a lukewarm response from other euro zone countries。

"Germany and France have sent a strong signal with the plan for a European economic government, if it is meant seriously and receives suitable authority such as a European finance minister," Schroeder said。

"That is the correct way forward and the precondition for the correct funding -- euro bonds," he said。

Germany, which enjoys lower costs for issuing debt than its single currency partners, has led resistance to joint euro-denominated bonds。

"It is a huge bond market -- speculators would no longer harbor hopes of splitting it up," Schroeder said。

In order to initiate these changes, Schroeder said EU member states would have to return to the negotiating table and hammer out a new treaty to replace the one agreed in Lisbon that currently serves as the bloc's institutional framework。

"In the crisis lies a real opportunity to achieve a political union in Europe," he said。

Schroeder, who says the EU can only respond to growing competition with the United States and Asia by being fully united, has long pointed to Britain as a hurdle to further EU integration。

"Great Britain causes the greatest problems. (It is) not in the euro but the British nevertheless always want to participate when it comes to designing a European economic area," he said. "That doesn't work."