It is the first interview for the European Newsroom (enr) with a finance minister from an EU member state. However, the topics could not have been more significant for the 15 enr agencies. The reform of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), the EU’s budget rules, is one of the main topics in the EU this year. 

On Thursday, 8 June, ahead of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin), a regular meeting of Europe’s finance ministers, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner spoke to the enr about Germany’s position on EU’s debt and fiscal rule. “Sound public finances are a precondition for a competitive single market and a stable monetary union. This is why Germany is advocating ambitious efforts to reform the Stability and Growth Pact,” Lindner told the enr in a video conference interview.

The rules were suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic and that suspension was extended until the end of this year due to Russia’s war on Ukraine. In the debate about the reform of the EU’s fiscal rule, the positions could not be further apart: EU countries such as Germany and the Netherlands are insisting on greater fiscal discipline while highly indebted countries fear that faster debt reduction could jeopardise their economic growth.

The participating enr agencies were from Spain (EFE and Europa Press), France (AFP), Italy (ANSA), Belgium (Belga), Slovenia (STA), Croatia (HINA), Bulgaria (BTA), Slovakia (TASR), Poland (PAP), Greece (AMNA), the Netherlands (ANP), Romania (Agerpres), Austria (APA) and Germany (dpa). 

Read the enr’s Key Story based on the interview here.

The interview with Christian Lindner on Twitter: