Germany cool to EU fiscal union plan: report (by William L. Watts)

FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Germany on Tuesday offered a cool response to a roadmap released by European Union President Herman Van Rompuy and other European officials outlining a path to tighter fiscal integration and a banking union. German Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Link, speaking to reporters in Luxembourg, said the proposals tilt "toward various models for mutualizing debt" but "come up short" in terms of improved budgetary controls, Bloomberg reported. The seven-page plan offered fewer details than an earlier draft cited in a Financial Times report. The document released by the EU on Tuesday said euro-zone countries should be "in a position to require changes in budgetary envelopes if they are in violation of fiscal rules, keeping in mind the need to ensure social fairness." The earlier draft cited by the Financial Times called for giving Brussels the authority to rewrite national budgets of countries in violation of EU fiscal rules.