BERLIN, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble proposed a package of EU reform Tuesday, calling for further budget sovereignty hand over and a more flexible involvement of European Parliament.
On his way back to Berlin from Asia, Schaeuble told reporters that European Union should have a currency commissioner with veto power over national budgets. Under his proposal, member states of eurozone would have to hand over more budget sovereignty to Brussels.
If the currency commissioner found a state's budget draft is not in line with eurozone budget discipline, he would have the power to ask the state's parliament to prepare a new draft. The decision could be made independently, without having to seek agreements with other commissioners in the European Commission.
The aim, according to Schaeuble, is to grant currency commissioner the same power as commissioner for competition who is "respected and feared globally."
Another proposal in Schaeuble's package is a reform of the European Parliament. Under his proposal, vote rights would be restricted to countries which were concerned in decisions to be made. For an issue in eurozone, only the 17 members of the currency union, instead of 27 members of the whole EU, would have rights to vote. This would make the decision-making more concentrated and less complicated.
In order to implement the proposals, amendment of EU treaties, which requires unanimously approval of EU members, is necessary. Schaeuble said he would submit his reform suggestions in the upcoming EU summit, and was confident that a convention over treaty amendment would be called by December.
"We must take bigger steps towards fiscal union," said Schaeuble, calling the battle against the three-year-old debt crisis an opportunity for EU to further deepen its integration.
The proposals, however, may be opposed by Britain who has been reluctant to a integrating EU. A similar case happened last year, when eurozone had to come up with a separate fiscal pact strengthening budget discipline without nod from London.
Asked attitude inside his country, Schaeuble said he had discussed with Chancellor Angela Merkel, but she was "somewhat more cautious."
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