The BBC has a country-by-country guide to the EU austerity measures, including the bickering France and Germany. And, as the Irish Times reports, EU Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, lays down the law
Amid intensive debate among European governments around measures required to reinforce the euro’s foundations, Mr Barroso said some of the member states needed to be reminded that the commission was “the economic government of Europe”.
France and Germany have been at loggerheads over the scale of the measures required to buttress the single currency but Mr Barroso told the European Parliament in Strasbourg yesterday that the ultimate power rested with the commission.
“The commission is the economic government of Europe. That’s the only treaty-compatible reply that’s possible in trade, competition and a large swathe of budgetary surveillance issues – it is down to the commission and it is something that some of our governments should be reminded of from time to time because they haven’t attentively read the treaties it would seem,” he said, although he added that the commission acted in conjunction with the European Council.
