Germany not isolated on EU debt rules reform, minister says

Germany is not alone with its call for strict debt rules in the European Union, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner told dpa and other members of the European Newsroom.
"Germany is not isolated at all. There are many member states that share our concerns," said Lindner.
Other countries may however be less vocal, Lindner added.
The bloc's strict debt and deficit rules have been suspended since the coronavirus pandemic prompted even frugal countries like Germany to take on large amounts of public debt, prompting calls for reform.
In April the European Commission proposed granting highly indebted countries more leeway in reducing public debt to enable needed investments.
The proposal "is not yet the landing zone" and has to be improved, Lindner told dpa, as it does not guarantee that debt and deficits would decline "in a realistic and reliable manner."
Under the currently suspended rules, countries had to reduce their excessive debt by 5% per year.
Germany has repeatedly called for binding rules for highly-indebted countries, including reducing the ratio of debt to economic output by 1 percentage point per year.
Lindner can however imagine exceptions, he told dpa.
"We are of course open to the idea of a general escape clause for exceptional circumstances," he said.
If no agreement is reached among EU countries and with the European Parliament by the end of the year, the currently suspended rules will go back into effect.