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The foreign ministers of Germany and France on Monday called for ambitious steps to strengthen the European Union after Britain’s shock vote to leave the bloc. “We will… take further steps toward a political union in Europe, and we invite the other European states to join us in this endeavor,” Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Jean-Marc Ayrault wrote in a joint position paper. The top diplomats of the two core EU founding members and biggest economies said that “Germany and France have a responsibility to strengthen solidarity and cohesion within the European Union”. But they also signaled a willingness to accept a...

The European Central Bank will have the "ultimate decision-making authority" on supervising 6,000 euro-area banks, with some day-to-day tasks delegated to national bodies, a commission spokesman has said. "There is a clear need to cover all banks through a single supervisory mechanism for all 6,000 banks of the euro area," Stefaan De Rynck, spokesman for financial issues said during a press conference on Friday (31 August). The commission will table proposals on 12 September on granting the ECB sweeping supervisory powers to help early detection of troubled banks and force them to fix their balance sheets before having to ask...

Last year, Germany went out on a limb by calling for political union in Europe. The idea was met with little enthusiasm elsewhere in the eurozone, but particularly in France. After the election of French President François Hollande in May, it seemed that views of the EU's foremost political duo could not be further apart. But the mood has since changed, and serious plans are underway to create—if not a full political union, then something close to it. … Meanwhile, EU council president Herman Van Rompuy and others are drawing up a paper to upgrade the eurozone, which will be...

In a television interview, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the eurozone was moving inevitably towards a "political union" requiring nations to cede more sovereignty, and that would lead to more of a multi-speed Europe with non-euro states in the slow lane.“We need more Europe, we need not only a monetary union, but we also need a so-called fiscal union, in other words more joint budget policy,” Merkel told ARD on Thursday (7 June). “And we need most of all a political union—that means we need to gradually give competencies to Europe and give Europe control,” she added. European Council President...

The European Commission has said it will soon bring forward plans for an economic and political union it says is necessary for the creation of debt-mutualizing eurobonds—one of the most controversial proposed solutions to the current eurozone crisis. "We need to reflect what kind of European union would be required to deepen economic and political integration, for instance so that joint issuance of debt would make sense for all member states sharing the single currency," economics commissioner Olli Rehn told MEPs on Tuesday (22 May). He said the commission would "soon" come up with a "medium to long term roadmap"...

<p>Most of you know my contempt for the new campaign finance “reform” act, because it violates the First Amendment. Most of you know my low opinions of John Kerry, dating back to dealing with him in college. I have shot a 60-second TV commercial addressing both these subjects. Now I need your help in getting that ad on the air.</p>