MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Germany benefits from the unbalanced Eurozone economy and uses it to increase the trade surplus, French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron said Monday, adding that the German economic model was hurting the entire EU economy.
"[Its] economic strength is not sustainable in its present form… It is good neither for Germany nor the Eurozone economy. The balance should be restored," Macron said in an interview with German newspaper Zeit.
The growth of German exports has caused great concern in the world. In February, US President Donald Trump's economic adviser Peter Navarro accused Berlin of using what he said was a grossly undervalued euro to the disadvantage of EU and US economies. German Chancellor Angela Merkel denied the accusation, saying her administration had no influence on the European Central Bank’s monetary policy.
According to a report issued by the European statistics agency Eurostat in March, while the EU trade deficit in January amounted to 16.2 billion euros ($17.2 billion), Germany witnessed a profit of 10.2 billion euros ($10.8 billion).
