Emmanuel Macron to present euro zone reform proposals on Sept 26

French President Emmanuel Macron (Reuters/File Photo)

French President Emmanuel Macron will unveil more detailed proposals for reforms to the euro zone on Sept. 26, two days after Germany’s federal election, a French diplomatic source said on Wednesday. Macron wants a major leap forward in European cooperation. He has called for a euro zone finance minister and a euro zone parliament that would supervise a standalone budget for the bloc.

However, Macron’s push for an ambitious overhaul of Europe’s single currency bloc is running up against resistance in Berlin despite conciliatory public signals from German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Earlier on Wednesday, the head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, also poured cold water on part of Macron’s plans, saying there should be a finance and economy minister at EU level but no separate euro zone budget or parliament.

Creating a finance minister for the EU rather than for the narrower euro zone, as proposed by Macron, is an attempt to prevent divisions among the 27 countries that will remain in the EU once Britain leaves in 2019, EU officials said.