Another plan to prop up the euro

Taking advantage of Angela Merkel's absence on holiday, her deputy Philipp Rösler, the new Minister of Economy and head of the increasingly eurosceptic junior coalition partners the Free Democrats, has seized on the theme of the day: how to rescue the euro. "The Untalented Mr. Rösler", as he is described in the Financial Times Deutschland, has proposed nothing less than creating a “stability council" for the eurozone, which he intends to present to his European colleagues at the end of September.

Rösler wants the council – whose members would be independent of governments to avoid "political pressures” – to submit eurozone countries to regular tests of their competitiveness (particularly with respect to the labour market and innovation), as well as to fiscal discipline and debt control. Failure would usher in automatic sanctions, which would include losing out on aid from EU structural funds, destined mostly for the weakest states.

This is the second European initiative from Rösler, who caused something of a stir a few weeks ago by promoting massive investments by German companies into Greece. Two obstacles remain, however, as the FTD points out: the Chancery had not been brought up to speed on the concept, and darkly described the minister's ideas as "interesting." Secondly, European agreements dictate that blocking structural fund aid to a country requires the European Parliament's approval.