Last September, French President Macron proposed to establish the same budget and the same national defense, strengthen the relationship between Germany and France, and build the euro zone into an economic force that can compete with the United States and other big countries.
Just after the chaotic political situation in Italy finally broke the deadlock last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel responded to Macron "from a distance" in an interview with frankfurter allgemeine zeitung on Sunday. She elaborated on the plan to reform and strengthen the EU structure, including integrating the national defense forces of the euro zone countries and establishing a joint investment fund.
In Merkel's proposal, the annual budget of the joint investment fund should not exceed 50 billion euros, aiming at strengthening the scientific and technological strength of the euro zone. This figure is far below Macron's previous assumption, when Macron proposed a budget tool as high as 200 billion euros.
At the same time, Merkel also supports the transformation of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), a rescue fund with a loan amount of 500 billion euros, into the European version of the IMF EMF, and provides short-term loans to member States for five years if conditions permit.
In terms of refugee policy, Merkel believes that the EU should set the same refugee asylum standards and conduct border control. In Merkel's view, the previous turmoil in Italian politics was due to the defects in the current asylum procedures in the European Union. Last week, Salvigni, leader of the Italian Union Party, immediately promised to expel hundreds of thousands of illegal refugees after he became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior.
Merkel also called for the establishment of a "flexible mechanism" in which all member States can make corresponding contributions to the refugee crisis. Greater flexibility can overcome the problem that some countries refuse to accept refugees.
In addition, Merkel also expressed support for Macron's view of "building a Europe with the same defense". She believes that deeper military cooperation will help reduce complexity and hopes to establish a rotating European Security Council.
In his speech in September, Macron called for the establishment of a "military intervention force" and a unified military budget by 2020, which will have a unified military code of conduct. Before that, a European defense fund should be established as soon as possible to form a defense force that can be projected at any time.
Compared with Macron's proposal, Merkel's series of reforms are not so ambitious. However, the leaders of the big EU countries believe that the EU's institutional reform can ensure that the world takes the voice of this region seriously.
Merkel's voice was welcomed by French officials. On Sunday, an official in Macron's office said that in the next few weeks, France and Germany still need to work together to reach a better agreement on the financial capacity of the banking union and the euro zone.
The WSJ also quoted an official in Council of Europe as saying that the interview showed that "Merkel is determined to reshape Europe in an ambitious and responsible way in the coming months".
However, the above-mentioned media also saw that after Trump decided to impose high steel and aluminum tariffs on the EU, the relationship between Europe and the United States became increasingly tense. Some analysts predict that Trump's tough stance may prompt EU member states to cover up their differences when they hold different opinions.
For the United States, Merkel is also outspoken:
The United States is still a superpower, but a series of decisions such as withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement and imposing high tariffs on the European Union show that it refuses to recognize multilateral agreements in all fields at present.
Source: Netease Finance