29 January 2020 Finance Minister Blümel urges tightening of eurozone Stability and Growth Pact

Current deliberations on granting new exemptions for climate investments have been rejected by Finance Minister Blümel: "At present, the rules are being too generously interpreted by some countries. For this reason, I would be in favour of tightening up the criteria of the Stability and Growth Pact instead of continually easing them. We want the Pact to be tightened up, for exemptions to be removed and for compliance with the rules to be more rigorously controlled. Before we have a discussion on what exemptions should be allowed, first of all, States should adhere to what has been agreed," added Blümel.

Finance Minister Blümel also pointed to the toothless sanctions contained in the Pact relating to ultra-low interest rates in the eurozone. "One reason for low interest is the Stability Mechanism and the casual attitude towards it in the past. A number of States are so heavily indebted that they would be in no position to pay higher interest on the capital markets. Surely this is another reason why the ECB and other central banks are keeping interest rates so low."