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Reuters
PARIS
Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Emmanuel Macron talked up the prospect of agreeing reforms to the euro zone on Friday, saying they were committed to strengthening the single currency bloc and Europe as a whole.
Merkel is in Paris for an evening of talks with Macron, after the two agreed at a European Union summit last month to draw up joint plans for the euro area by March.
Macron has talked in the past about the need for a standalone budget and a single finance minister for the currency bloc, but he played down any technical discussions on Friday, saying the priority was to agree on the end-goal first.
"If you begin by discussing the instruments without knowing what you want to do with them, there's little chance of success,"he said."That's not how we in France have historically drawn up our budgets."
The prospect of France and Germany, the economic and political drivers of Europe, agreeing reforms has risen on expectations Merkel will soon clinch another grand coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).
