Economics
Euro Area Reaches Deal on Joint Budget Plan and New Bond Rules
- Finance chiefs agree on backstop, euro-area bailout fund
- Ministers say work could proceed on euro-area budget
Giovanni Tria, center, greets Euclid Tsakalotos at the Eurogroup meeting on Dec. 3.
Photographer: John Thys/AFP via Getty Images
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Less than a decade after the financial crisis nearly tore the euro area apart, a long-anticipated push to shore up the single currency finally started taking shape at a meeting of the bloc’s finance ministers, though it will likely underwhelm those calling for tighter integration.
The compromise struck around 8 a.m. Tuesday after almost 16 hours of talks in Brussels paves the way for advances in areas from debt sustainability to a possible euro-zone budget. But it’s a long way short of the sweeping vision of an integrated and assertive Europe set out by French President Emmanuel Macron last year.