Germany’s bid for fiscal union is not in the bank yet

The move towards greater integration of euro financial affairs is gathering momentum but there is sure to be resistance, writes Noah Barkin and Daniel Flynn

WHEN Jean-Claude Trichet called last June for the creation of a European finance ministry with power over national budgets, the idea seemed fanciful, a distant dream that would take years or even decades to realise, if it ever came to be.

One year later, with the eurozone’s debt crisis threatening to tear the bloc apart, Germany is pushing its partners for precisely the kind of giant leap forward in fiscal integration that the now-departed ECB president had in mind.