“We support the wish of Germany and France to strengthen competitiveness, convergence, stability and investment in innovation. However, we are not convinced of the benefit of creating a separate eurozone budget as proposed by these countries,” Šapoka told BNS in a comment.
“What is important to the European Union is important for the eurozone as well, and vice versa. Therefore, there should be no divide in this. All the more so because sources of funding will have to be found for each new budget,” he said.
The minister believes that the eurozone budget proposal should be seen in the context of talks on the bloc’s multiannual budget.
“The proposal by these two countries has to be viewed in the overall context of negotiations on the new Multiannual Financial Framework, and to increase the attractiveness of the eurozone, all member states have to be involved in discussions,” Šapoka said.
“When discussing the eurozone budget, the key issues are its objective, value-added and sources of funding,” he added.