France and Germany 'serious obstacles' to economic integration

British MEP Christopher Huhne has warned that France and Germany have now become the greatest threat to EU economic prosperity.

Writing in the Financial Times, Huhne, the economic spokesman for the European Parliament’s Liberal group, blasted both Paris and Berlin for their contradictory attitudes to economic integration.

“Germany and France may have provided the impulse behind the Union, but their attitudes may now prove the greatest threat to the whole venture," said Huhne.

“Judged not by rhetoric but by their actions, these country’s policies have become serious obstacles to integration.”

Huhne argues that German fears of foreign ownership and belief in maintaining ‘national champions’ are hampering further integration.

Within the financial services sector, 4.7 per cent of German bank assets were foreign controlled, while the equivalent figure for the UK is 51 per cent according to European Commission statistics.

“Looking at these numbers and at the reaction to recent takeover attempts [of German companies] you have to conclude that the EU’s biggest champion of political integration – Germany – hates the idea of working for foreign bosses.”

“Germany will have to face these nationalist demons because monetary union without free capital flows will not work.”

Turning on Paris, Huhne revealed that France has more overdue single-market directives, over two years old, than any other EU member state, and has the worst record of open infringement cases of breaches of EU law.

“The new Commission president needs to make an early visit to both Paris and Berlin, where he should ask one hard question: are French and German leaders prepared to put their pro European rhetoric into practice?”

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