Germany faces pressure to revive EU

France and Italy will keep pressure on Germany this week to use government money to revive the eurozone’s stagnating economy but, in a sign of inertia, a promised list of projects to create growth will not be ready until December.

European finance ministers take the argument to Luxembourg for two days of talks following last week’s International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington. There, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble ruled out “writing cheques” for the eurozone.

One compromise is an infrastructure investment fund of public and private money, although even the first draft of a list of potential projects will not be ready until December, according to a document prepared for the Luxembourg meeting.