Germany, France to set up working group

BERLIN - Germany and France, largely viewed as motors of European integration, are planning to establish a joint working group on the eurozone debt crisis, the two countries' finance ministers said Monday.

The group is aimed at strengthening cooperation between Berlin and Paris "so as to prepare for the pending decisions on a bilateral basis," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said after talking with his French counterpart Pierre Moscovici.

Schaeuble said the aim of the Franco-Germany group would be to help the two nations "work very closely together so as to prepare on a bilateral basis for the pending decisions."

Moscovici said Monday's meeting with Schaeuble was a "sign that we want to move forward together towards sustainable solutions."

The French minister said that the working group would examine several crucial issues, including "implementing decisions on Greece and Spain" and developing banking supervision, banking union and European integration.

Monday's move was among a series of diplomatic contacts between European leaders, as the eurozone debt crisis, which is now in its third year, showed signs of dragging the whole continent into recession and spreading to core nations like Germany.

Economists said that mounting skepticism on the future of Greece and increasing fears of Spain's falling down due to its banking problems has urged politicians to come up with solidarity as well as concrete action plans to end the market tensions.

Unlike his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, Hollande once challenged Merkel's bitter austerity therapy to the debt crisis with his pro-growth measures, expanding rifts with Berlin on the methods of curing Europe's debt illness.

However, the two leading nations in Europe finally had to find a common ground with better coordinations in face of approaching storms of escalating crisis, experts said.

On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosted French President Francois Hollande in Berlin, one day before she met with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. The latter flied to Paris on Saturday to meet Hollande.

Both Merkel and Hollande have expressed hopes that Greece remain in the eurozone, while urging Athens to stick to its reform promises and meet the budget cutting target set in the bailout packages.

But Berlin and Paris did not stand by Greece's requests of loosening the belt-tightening and giving the Athens more time to finish its homework of fiscal consolidation and structural reforms, trying to keep pressure on the debt-laden Mediterranean country.