Former French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici’s appointment as the European Union’s top budget watchdog drew criticism in Germany and a reminder by the government for France to curb its fiscal deficit.
In a deeply humiliating blow for France’s Socialist government, finance minister Pierre Moscovici was unseated from the town council in Valentigny in the Doubs department in March this year, but has nevertheless now gained the most influential seat in Europe.
As incoming European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker appointed Moscovici, while France’s budget deficit will widen for the first time in five years, to 4.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2014 from 4.3 percent in 2013.
“I don’t think that the appointment of Pierre Moscovici as economic and monetary affairs commissioner was a wise personnel decision,” Norbert Barthle, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s budget policy spokesman in parliament, said in an e-mailed statement. “It will be interesting to see how Mr. Moscovici will deal with France’s excessive deficit.”
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble questioned whether former French finance minister Pierre Moscovici should be nominated as the European Commission’s next monetary and economic affairs chief given his country’s budget woes in July already.
In a question-and-answer session after a speech in the southwestern German city of Freiburg, Schaeuble said France’s violation of European Union budget rules and possible commission action against the country may stand in the way of Moscovici getting the job.
Juncker’s choice will heighten tension between policy makers in the EU’s two biggest economies after the commission allowed French President Francois Hollande twice to delay deficit targets in the wake of Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis.
“We are certain that France is aware of its responsibility,” the German Finance Ministry said in an e-mailed statement that urged EU members to fulfill euro-region deficit rules or risk losing credibility in financial markets. “Europe needs France to be economically strong.”
“The French have prevailed again,” Lueder Gerken, head of Freiburg-based CEP research institute, said in an e-mailed statement. “The Stability and Growth Pact leaves much room for interpretation” and Moscovici, “who so far hasn’t distinguished himself as a follower of structural reforms and budgetary discipline,” now has that power, Gerken said.
Merkel, during a budget debate in Germany’s lower house of parliament today, said adhering to EU rules must be the “hallmark” of policy making, even as Europe’s economic situation remains “fragile.”
“It’s now up to the commission to assess a delayed adherence to the 3 percent deficit limit and, where appropriate, take further steps” against France, Barthle said. “This is where Mr. Moscovici can show that he really represents the interests of Europe.”
And who is Pierre Moscovici? Srul Hersch Moscovici (Serge Moscovici, Serghey Moscovici), is a Jewish Bolshevik born in Romania in 1925. He and his comrades blessed Romanians with Communism. His son, Pierre Moscovici, continues his father’s work in France.
A close ally of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who led a reformist current in the Socialist party, Moscovici jumped to Hollande’s camp after Strauss-Kahn was charged with criminal sexual assault in New York and resigned his IMF post.
Moscovici was a youthful Trotskyist, taught European Affairs at university and was a deputy president of the European parliament. He has admitted that his passion for hand-rolled Havana cigars has ruffled feathers among Socialist colleagues.
Apparently, the French electorate is just as unqualified for voting as any other.
