Germany, Poland push for joint effort to revive Europe’s economy

Germany and Poland must take shared responsibility for driving an economic revival in Europe, the finance ministers of both countries said during a joint press conference in Warsaw, as the continent’s growth continues to lag behind rivals such as the United States and China.

A relatively weak economy has compounded Europe’s challenges on multiple fronts, including perceived security threats from Russia, trade and geopolitical disputes with the US, and uncertainty over relations with China, Reuters reports.

“We need to make Europe more competitive,” Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski said. “Both Poland and Germany are ready to create this impetus and to develop economic policies that will return Europe to an economic, rather than regulatory, power.”

German Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil emphasized the importance of a strong transatlantic relationship amid these challenges. “And we agree: precisely in this phase we must strengthen Europe and move Europe forward,” he said, speaking during his first visit to Poland since taking office. Klingbeil added that the EU must become “faster, smarter, and more capable of dealing with complexity.”

Last week, ministers from six leading European economies, including Germany and Poland, pledged to drive European progress by addressing projects delayed by the EU’s complex decision-making processes. “We have set ourselves the goal of deepening European cooperation, picking up speed, and also demanding this from the Commission,” Klingbeil said, referring to a recent video conference.

He clarified that the initiative is “less about adopting decisions now in a new format; it’s about finding common positions so that we can then push our decisions forward in the Eurogroup,” the forum of eurozone finance ministers.

Domanski highlighted the potential of ad hoc coalitions within the EU to allow some countries to advance projects without requiring consensus from all 27 member states, a practice already applied to initiatives including the euro currency. “We must unwind the regulatory corset, simplify the law, reform our markets, and fully harness the power of the common European market and its nearly 500 million consumers,” he said.

The Polish minister concluded by stressing the urgency of Europe’s economic race. “A race for competitiveness, for building true economic strength, and to achieve this, we need to accelerate,” Domanski said.

By Vafa Guliyeva