Kohl Rules Out Delay In Emu, Says Report
Chancellor Helmut Kohl said there would be no postponement in the launch of Europe's single currency, the Euro, planned to go ahead in January 1999, a German newspaper reported on Saturday.
The Welt am Sonntag newspaper said in an interview released ahead of publication on Sunday that Kohl was determined Germany would succeed in fulfilling the strict Maastricht criteria to qualify for European Monetary Union (Emu).
"The question is not whether we are going to have European Monetary Union, but rather: what can we do and what must we do to ensure it starts on time," Kohl said.
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"Many self-appointed experts only want a postponement so that the project is completely put on ice. Others get cold feet when things get tough," Kohl said, referring to a growing number of politicians and experts in Germany who say the country may flunk the criteria. "Postponement is out of the question," he said.
German Finance Minister Theo Waigel said on Friday that Germany was on course to qualify for monetary union and stood by German insistence on a strict interpretation of the entry criteria laid out in the Maastricht Treaty.
Waigel told parliament that, despite rising unemployment, Bonn would still cut the budget deficit to 2.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, below the three percent target laid down in the treaty.
Kohl also said his ruling coalition would only resume cross-party talks on major tax reforms without preconditions from the opposition Social Democrats (SPD).
According to Welt am Sonntag's report, Kohl said his coalition, which includes his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and junior partner the Free Democrats (FDP), would agree to a new round of talks before theEaster holiday next weekend.
But, Kohl said, "we will not allow any preconditions" for resuming the talks aimed at passing tax reform measures needed to help whip Germany's finances into shape for European currency union that is slated to start in January 1999. The SPD pulled out of the tax talks with the coalition in a recent clash over coal subsidy cuts, and has not yet agreed to return to the negotiating table.