EC President José Manuel Durão Barroso can thank his speechwriters for the latest comment winging through the corridors of power: “We would like to have more countries like Germany in Europe!” The former Portuguese prime minister was talking about Germany’s high level of competitiveness and how other countries just can’t keep up. “The real problem for Europe is not that Germany is very competitive”, he told a press conference in Brusselss. “This is a major asset for the economy of Europe as a whole. The problem is that others are still far away from that level of competitiveness”.
Thus the EC will now review Germany’s “high and persistent current account surplus” to find out whether Germany could do more to help rebalance the otherwise wobbly European Union economy.
Germany’s account surplus during the last three years has reached approximately 7% of GDP (gross domestic product) values. This tops the 6% limit that the EC considers possibly problematic for the eurozone, and thus the need for an investigation.
This will be the first time that Germany has been subjected to a review of this kind.
Meantime, Barroso also confirmed that 15 countries excluding Germany will be subject to in-depth reviews, adding that the results will be presented in spring next year.
