Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and David Cameron at the G8 summit in May. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA
David Cameron will deliver a blunt message to Angela Merkel in Berlin on Thursday that he and Barack Obama have agreed on the need to flesh out an «immediate plan» to tackle the eurozone crisis.
Amid concerns in London and Washington that the German chancellor is dragging her feet – noticeably in declining at the moment to countenance eurobonds – the prime minister will tell Merkel the eurozone has just weeks to act to shore up the single currency.
Cameron, who has a meeting in Berlin on Thursday afternoon with the German chancellor, believes that agreement needs to be reached at two crucial summits this month. They are the G20 summit in Mexico next week and the EU’s annual summer summit in Brussels at the end of the month.
The prime minister will begin a short European tour on Wednesday afternoon when he flies to Oslo for dinner with Jens Stoltenberg, the prime minister of Norway, which is not an EU member state. Cameron and Stoltenberg will then travel to Berlin on Thursday for a town hall question-and-answer session with Merkel. The German chancellor invited Cameron and Stoltenberg who are fellow centre-right leaders. The town hall event will be followed by Cameron’s meeting with Merkel.
Downing Street highlighted the transatlantic impatience with Berlin when it said that the prime minister had agreed in a telephone call with Obama late on Tuesday on the need for urgent action.
The spokeswoman said of the telephone call: «They agreed on the need for an immediate plan to tackle the crisis and to restore market confidence as well as a longer-term strategy to ensure a strong single currency.
«The prime minister’s view has always been that decisive action needs to be taken in order to underpin the eurozone. Confidence in the markets is essential, and in order to regain that confidence decisive action needs to be taken.»
Cameron has caused some irritation in Berlin and Paris by appearing to lecture eurozone leaders on the action they need to take to save the single currency. In a video conference with Merkel and the new French president, François Hollande, ahead of last month’s G8 summit at Camp David, the prime minister recited passages from a speech in Manchester in which he warned of a «remorseless logic» that stronger parts of a single currency help weaker parts.
In his meeting with Merkel in Berlin on Thursday Cameron is expected to highlight one particularly sensitive area for Germany – the need for eurobonds, which Merkel is currently resisting. In his Manchester speech on 17 May the prime minister said: «The eurozone needs to put in place governance arrangements that create confidence for the future.
And as the British government has been arguing for a year now that means following the logic of monetary union towards solutions that deliver greater forms of collective support and collective responsibility of which Eurobonds are one possible example. Steps such as these are needed to put an end to speculation about the future of the euro.»
But Britain does not detect any current moves in Berlin towards accepting eurobonds – jointly issued bonds which would enable debt-laden countries to benefit from the strong financial position, and lower borrowing costs, of Germany.
Merkel has said that it would be wrong to demand eurobonds without accepting the the «next step in European integration» – fiscal union.
The prime minister’s spokeswoman said: «There are some immediate issues in the eurozone that need to be sorted. As we have said all along, in order to ensure that the eurozone deals with the issues that it is facing right now – the prime minister has discussed at length what he thinks those issues are.»
The spokeswoman highlighted the prime minister’s blueprint in his Manchester speech. He said Europe needs to take «necessary steps» to underpin a «stable and successful eurozone», by:
• Building an effective firewall.
• Ensuring their banks are well capitalised.
• Creating a system of fiscal burden sharing.
• Enacting a supportive monetary policy across the eurozone
• Promoting competition.
The spokeswoman added: «The issues still need to be sorted out. Our position hasn’t changed on that. They remain his pressing concerns. The prime minister has always been very clear that the eurozone needs to act decisively and needs to put in place some robust contingencies for all eventualities. In terms of what needs to be done in order to underpin the eurozone he has been clear from the start what those issues are and how they should be resolved. They still need to be resolved.»
But Downing Street said the eurozone has taken some steps. «Clearly the eurozone has taken some steps in order to get its house in order with the fiscal stability compact. But more needs to be done and the prime minister has set out what needs to be done.»
David Cameron will deliver a blunt message to Angela Merkel in Berlin on Thursday that he and Barack Obama have agreed on the need to flesh out an «immediate plan» to tackle the eurozone crisis.
Amid concerns in London and Washington that the German chancellor is dragging her feet – noticeably in declining at the moment to countenance eurobonds – the prime minister will tell Merkel the eurozone has just weeks to act to shore up the single currency.
Cameron, who has a meeting in Berlin on Thursday afternoon with the German chancellor, believes that agreement needs to be reached at two crucial summits this month. They are the G20 summit in Mexico next week and the EU’s annual summer summit in Brussels at the end of the month.
The prime minister will begin a short European tour on Wednesday afternoon when he flies to Oslo for dinner with Jens Stoltenberg, the prime minister of Norway, which is not an EU member state. Cameron and Stoltenberg will then travel to Berlin on Thursday for a town hall question-and-answer session with Merkel. The German chancellor invited Cameron and Stoltenberg who are fellow centre-right leaders. The town hall event will be followed by Cameron’s meeting with Merkel.
Downing Street highlighted the transatlantic impatience with Berlin when it said that the prime minister had agreed in a telephone call with Obama late on Tuesday on the need for urgent action.
The spokeswoman said of the telephone call: «They agreed on the need for an immediate plan to tackle the crisis and to restore market confidence as well as a longer-term strategy to ensure a strong single currency.
«The prime minister’s view has always been that decisive action needs to be taken in order to underpin the eurozone. Confidence in the markets is essential, and in order to regain that confidence decisive action needs to be taken.»
Cameron has caused some irritation in Berlin and Paris by appearing to lecture eurozone leaders on the action they need to take to save the single currency. In a video conference with Merkel and the new French president, François Hollande, ahead of last month’s G8 summit at Camp David, the prime minister recited passages from a speech in Manchester in which he warned of a «remorseless logic» that stronger parts of a single currency help weaker parts.
In his meeting with Merkel in Berlin on Thursday Cameron is expected to highlight one particularly sensitive area for Germany – the need for eurobonds, which Merkel is currently resisting. In his Manchester speech on 17 May the prime minister said: «The eurozone needs to put in place governance arrangements that create confidence for the future.
And as the British government has been arguing for a year now that means following the logic of monetary union towards solutions that deliver greater forms of collective support and collective responsibility of which Eurobonds are one possible example. Steps such as these are needed to put an end to speculation about the future of the euro.»
But Britain does not detect any current moves in Berlin towards accepting eurobonds – jointly issued bonds which would enable debt-laden countries to benefit from the strong financial position, and lower borrowing costs, of Germany.
Merkel has said that it would be wrong to demand eurobonds without accepting the the «next step in European integration» – fiscal union.
The prime minister’s spokeswoman said: «There are some immediate issues in the eurozone that need to be sorted. As we have said all along, in order to ensure that the eurozone deals with the issues that it is facing right now – the prime minister has discussed at length what he thinks those issues are.»
The spokeswoman highlighted the prime minister’s blueprint in his Manchester speech. He said Europe needs to take «necessary steps» to underpin a «stable and successful eurozone», by:
• Building an effective firewall.
• Ensuring their banks are well capitalised.
• Creating a system of fiscal burden sharing.
• Enacting a supportive monetary policy across the eurozone
• Promoting competition.
The spokeswoman added: «The issues still need to be sorted out. Our position hasn’t changed on that. They remain his pressing concerns. The prime minister has always been very clear that the eurozone needs to act decisively and needs to put in place some robust contingencies for all eventualities. In terms of what needs to be done in order to underpin the eurozone he has been clear from the start what those issues are and how they should be resolved. They still need to be resolved.»
But Downing Street said the eurozone has taken some steps. «Clearly the eurozone has taken some steps in order to get its house in order with the fiscal stability compact. But more needs to be done and the prime minister has set out what needs to be done.»
