WORLD
Germany, France Push Reforms to Tackle Crisis
Baku, February 4 (AZERTAC). France and Germany pushed other eurozone countries to sign up for tough measures to limit debt loads, make their economies more productive and stamp out the government debt crisis that has crippled their currency union over the past year.
In a joint news conference Friday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said governments should decide soon — by the end of March — on a so-called “pact for competitiveness” bringing the 17 countries that use the euro closer together in the way they run their economies.
German and French officials indicate the pact could include calls for putting debt limits in national constitutions, raising retirement ages to match increased life expectancy, and getting rid of salary increases tied to inflation.
They also want countries to set up orderly ways to handle bank failures and agree on a common base for figuring corporate taxation.
Within a year, eurozone states should demonstrate on “very concrete points” that they are serious about making their economies more competitive, Merkel said.