Archive German economists oppose eurozone integration Government group also calls for mechanism to manage countries out of the eurozone.

BERLIN — Germany’s council of economic advisers said it opposes the establishment of a European finance ministry with fiscal powers, the centerpiece of a Franco-German initiative to bind eurozone countries closer together.

The government-funded panel of five economists warned in a newspaper op-ed that recent proposals to deepen integration within the eurozone would undermine its founding tenets, in particular the stipulation that members not subsidize one another. The ideas put forth in recent weeks, including a common eurozone budget, unemployment insurance and shared economic governance, would lead to less discipline among member states, not more, the council said.

“Such overzealous steps toward integration would violate the founding principle to unite responsibility and control,” the economists wrote in the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which previewed a report released Tuesday.

In the wake of Greece’s ongoing woes, Germany and France have renewed discussions over how to achieve closer integration within the eurozone as a way to forestall such crises.

If the eurozone implements such measures, the inevitable result would be a so-called transfer union in which taxpayer funds are shifted from one country another, the council concluded.

Instead of more integration, the council said the eurozone should enforce stricter fiscal rules to prevent countries from overspending. It also called for a bankruptcy mechanism to manage countries out of the eurozone. Opening the door to a country’s exit could help cushion the impact and remove much of the uncertainty that has jolted markets in recent years.

The council argues that the most effective way to encourage reform in the eurozone is via market pressure. If countries’ borrowing costs rise due to concerns about their finances, they have a clear incentive to pursue reforms and cut spending. A common eurozone budget and the other steps under consideration would remove that pressure.

The council, which is nominally independent, offers advice and analysis to the government, but its recommendations are often ignored. In recent years, the council, which represents Germany’s economic orthodoxy, been critical of the government’s course in combatting the euro crisis.

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