French President Emmanuel Macron, who pleads for a policy of active investment in Europe, said Thursday that the rule on the maintenance of the public deficit of the countries of the zone below the 3% of the GDP was a "debate of 'another century'. "We need more expansionism, more investment, Europe can not be the only area not to do it," he said in an interview with The Economist weekly published on Thursday. .
"I think that's why the debate around the 3% in the national budgets, and the 1% of the European budget, is a debate of another century," he said with reference also to the discussions on the level of contributions of EU countries to the European budget.
Macron wants a fiscal stimulus
The French president has insisted on the need for a fiscal stimulus to fuel European growth, a request to which Germany is turning a deaf ear. The Chinese "invest heavily," he said. "The United States has widened the deficit to invest in strategic elements and revive the middle class," he added.
The Germans "are the big winners of the euro zone, including with its dysfunctions", continued Emmanuel Macron. "Today simply the German system must integrate that this situation is not sustainable," he said. "At some point they will have to repive," Emmanuel Macron assured conceding that the "fiscal stimulus" remained for the time being a "taboo".
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also said in September that "the Stability Pact must be improved", which requires euro area member states to have a public deficit of no more than 3% of GDP and 60% of their debt. % of GDP, to support investment. Paris and Rome, however, pledged in October to continue their efforts to clean up their public finances, after a European Commission budget 2020. The next multiannual budget of the EU must reconcile the departure of the United Kingdom, a net contributor , with new priorities (security, migration, digital).
To compensate, the Commission proposes to set country contributions at 1.114% (at 27) of Gross National Income (GNI), compared to 1.03% currently (at 28), which makes some big contributors cringe but also among beneficiaries who fear that European aid will dry up.