Germany's Schaeuble wants creative ways to build stronger EU

Thomson Reuters

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union should find ways to cooperate more closely on migration, security, foreign and economic policy, without waiting for a change to EU treaties, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Tuesday.

In prepared remarks for a speech at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, Schaeuble said he shares many of French President Emmanuel Macron's views on how to strengthen the EU.

But he said there may not be enough popular support to enact changes to EU rules.

"We have to find other, pragmatic solutions," Schaeuble said. "If... there is no majority for treaty change, we will just have to do it through intergovernmental agreements or enhanced cooperation, whether you want to call it variable geometry, multi-speed Europe, or coalitions of the willing."

On migration, security and foreign and economic policy, he said that the European Union was more effective when its member states act together.

(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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