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Macron, Merkel show unity to push eurozone reforms

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IANS Paris

French President Emmanuel Macron and visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel showed their unity, justifying their common efforts to come out with joint position on the single-currency bloc's reforms.

"What I can simply say is that the ambition we carry can not come alone and that it needs to be combined with the German ambition," Macron told reporters on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.

"To me, the priority is knowing where we want to go and we share that vision," he said.

"We want to advance together to have a Europe that is better organised regarding migration, more sovereign," the President said.

 

For her turn,the German chancellor asked more act "to better build a Europe able to overcome the challenges."

"There is no divergence," she stressed.

On Thursday, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the eurozone leading two powers were working to reach common position on eurozone reforms between March and June.

He added the two countries had "an immediate priority which is the completion of the banking union, the completion of the capital markets union and tax convergence...," Le Maire said at a news conference with his German counterpart Peter Altmaier.

When taking office, Macron pleaded for strong integrity and boosted economic and financial cooperation in the European bloc, suggesting the eurozone should has its own budget.

He also proposed a common bank but it remains unclear how it would be established.

--IANS

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First Published: Jan 20 2018 | 7:58 AM IST

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