Germany's hand will be uppermost as Europe writes new fiscal rules

As Chancellor Angela Merkel pushes tough new policy on debt and overspending to save the Eurozone, other member nations brace for a more German Europe.

By Henry Chu,
Los Angeles Times
6:35 PM PST, December 2, 2011

Reporting from London

European leaders are coming to grips with the fact that in forging a stronger union capable of weathering the continent's debt problems, they are also likely to create a more German Europe.

Germany and France, the continent's two heavyweights — in that order — each made a proposal in the last two days to tighten the bonds of the Eurozone by putting member nations' spending and budgets under stricter central control. Aligning fiscal and economic policies, they say, is the only way for the zone's shared euro currency to survive this crisis and avoid new ones.

Leaders of the two countries will meet Monday to work out details of their strategy.

But after years when national leaders could afford to pay lip service to the idea of fiscal discipline, the new order will mean European nations forfeiting some of their independence. And while France has a say in what happens next, the rules will be largely written in Berlin.

(More here.)