Fiscal union

The European Union should centralise more of its budget spending, especially for common goods, as that would relieve the burden on more indebted countries and promote convergence, Dutch central bank chief Klaas Knot said on Thursday.

The slowing eurozone economy needs pre-emptive fiscal stimulus from cash-rich countries like Germany and the Netherlands or it will face a long period of low growth, the European Commission will tell eurozone ministers next week.

Greece should not sacrifice the credibility and discipline it has earned with such sacrifice in the past few years to short-term measures, warns Ashok Aram, Deutsche Bank's regional CEO for Europe (excluding Germany and the UK), the Middle East and Africa, in an interview with Kathimerini.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde on Monday proposed creating a "rainy day fund" for the eurozone to help cushion members of the currency union in future economic downturns.

In a speech in Berlin, Lagarde hailed a "sustained and broadly shared upswing" in the global economy.

One of the most popular explanations behind the eurozone?s, and specifically Greece?s, woes is that the common currency area, unlike the United States, lacks a fiscal union. I was a firm adherent of this view until recently, but recent research has led me to question my views.