Single euro-zone budget gains momentum ahead of summit

Debate about the idea of creating a separate budget for euro zone countries is intensifying in the run up to an EU summit later this month, with less opposition to the proposal than many officials first expected, diplomats say.At a private dinner held last week among the EU ambassadors of several northern European countries, including Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland, those present were surprised to find a fair degree of consensus on the proposal.“I wouldn’t say that there was strong support for it, but there was certainly a feeling that this is an idea that should be explored in more detail,” said one diplomat briefed on the discussion that took place at the gathering.The single budget proposal was first sketched out by Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, in a paper circulated in September as part of an effort to stimulate debate about how Europe’s monetary union should be improved.In the paper, Van Rompuy said a “fully fledged fiscal union” among the 17 countries that share the euro could involve the creation of a single treasury office and “a central budget whose role and functions would need to be defined”.Those suggestions have since been refined into guidelines that will form the basis of discussion among EU leaders at the summit on October 18-19. The idea will also be explored among euro zone finance ministers at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.There is still no clear definition of what a single, central budget would entail, but Germany strongly supports the idea and France is on board too, which in terms of euro zone decision-making means it has substantial momentum.Britain’s support, underlined by Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday, is also significant, even if it stems more from a desire to distance Britain from the problems of the euro zone than from any solidarity with the single currency club.“There will come a time when you need to have two European budgets, one for the single currency, because they are going to have to support each other more, and perhaps a wider budget for everybody else,” Cameron told the BBC on Sunday, the first day of his Conservative Party’s annual conference.“I don’t think we will achieve that this time, but it is an indicator of the way that Europe is going,” he said.Agencies

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Single euro-zone budget gains momentum ahead of summit