Berlin - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Friday that eurozone members unable to overcome
budget problems should leave the euro, in an article for London's Financial Times newspaper. "Should a eurozone member ultimately find itself unable to consolidate its budgets or restore its competitiveness the country should, as a last resort, exit the monetary union," the
finance minister wrote.
Schaeuble also defended the concept of a "European Monetary Fund," modelled on the International Monetary Fund, which he had presented to the German media last weekend, unleashing a political debate in Europe.
While France, the Netherlands and
Luxembourg have backed the proposal, top Bundesbank and European Central Bank (ECB) officials have expressed criticism.
"It is not helpful to focus on the institutionalization of emergency aid," Bundesbank president Axel Weber said.
Schaeuble stressed that "emergency liquidity aid" should serve as a measure of last resort, "to reduce the risk of defaults."
The minister also said countries in need of aid should be excluded from the decision-making process, which should involve the ECB.
"Strict conditions and a prohibitive price tag must be attached so that aid is only drawn in the case of emergencies that present a threat to the financial stability of the whole euro area," the minister wrote.
Schaeuble also said that emergency liquidity aid could never be taken for granted.
"It must, on principle, still be possible for a state to go bankrupt."
The minister stressed that his proposal was not directed at the current problems faced by Greece, but said the country's crisis highlighted the need for new tools to maintain the euro's stability.
German Chancellor
Angela Merkel has backed Schaeuble's proposal, but stressed that it would require changes to Europe's treaties - a vexing thought, just three months after ratification of the
Lisbon Treaty ended a decade of wrangling.
