$163-billion EU GROWTH PLAN

$163-billion EU GROWTH PLAN

Current affairs:

• The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Spain agreed to push for a growth package worth up to $163 billion at a key EU summit next week aimed at kickstarting the economy and safeguarding the currency bloc.
• President Francois Hollande of France, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Italian Premier Mario Monti, playing host, provided few concrete details beyond agreement on pursuing a financial transaction tax something that Germany has championed.
• Perhaps the biggest breakthrough of the brief summit was Ms. Merkel’s acknowledgement that austerity alone won’t cure the euro’s woes. Ms. Merkel has come under increasing pressure to give ground on key pro—growth measures such as jointly—issued debt. “We say that growth and solid financials are two sides of a coin. Solid financials are not sufficient,” Merkel said.
• Mr. Monti is trying to build a bridge between Ms. Merkel’s insistence on fiscal discipline and the focus on growth by recently elected Mr. Hollande.