France's economy is in downturn and has being running a deficit for 3 years now. It narrowly escaped through negotiations, yet again, harsh penalties by the EU. France's reaction to the EU and Brussels' warning of past was to let the deficit widen rather than take painful measures to reign in spending.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3179630.stm

questions:

1. Are Germany and France, having the biggest economies, hurting the EU economically?
2. Are France and Germany using (or abusing) their "status" as the "powers" of the EU by their cavalier attitudes towards the rules within the Stability and Growth Pact?

additional linkage:
http://finance.news.com.au/common/story_pa...5E14305,00.html

The problem with integrating economies is that different economies may be in need of different fiscal and monetary policies. Running a deficit, in the midst of a recession, is widely recognized as a legitimate action to help stimulate the economy. Will countries attempt to buck the EU when it disagrees with their interests? Of course.

Yes they are. France and Germany's economic woes are not helping the economic growth of the EU. The unemployment rates are high and their economic policys are just making it worse. Chirac and Scheoder were bad economic leaders but they were re-elected because of Chirac's opponent was a facist and Scheoder used the Anti-American envrionment to get re-elected



Yes. France is constiently shoving aside the rules.

1. Are Germany and France, having the biggest economies, hurting the EU economically?

No. Economies rise and fall like a living organism breathing. Its simply impossible for an economy to just grow.

France and Germany's economies have an effect, of that ther is no doubt, but they do not hurt the EU's overall economy. The EU is far larger than just these two nations.


2. Are France and Germany using (or abusing) their "status" as the "powers" of the EU by their cavalier attitudes towards the rules within the Stability and Growth Pact?

Yes. Very much so. Especially France is using its position of a founder member of the Union as a shock absorber for its own foreign policy.

France and Germany should take care of their own countries first before they care about the EU. France and Germany must be the leaders who are leading the European economy, but they are not responsible for that lately.

I think France's action in the EU debate has certainly made the actual unification harder, though I think Germany's woes are more to do with unification than anything else. Schroeder does not have that much influence over the economy IMO.
German sales to former eastern bloc countries will probably pull it's fat out of the fire eventually IMO- you can't go there without seeing the German dominance of all retail goods. The changing of the entire eastern German part of thier country into a western style economy is very expensive and difficult, but IMO they are doing better than Poland, and Poland is a rockin' and a rollin' compared to where it was!