The Director General of the Confederation of British Industry, Adair Turner, has criticised the rush towards European Economic and Monetary Union (Emu).

Adair Turner: strong arguments for delaying Emu

Addressing business leaders and politicians in Berlin, he said there were strong arguments for delaying the introduction of a single European currency.

The CBI has in the past been strongly supportive of Emu and Mr Turner himself insists he is a pro-European. However, he told his German audience that he was not willing to sign up for a blank cheque called "ever closer union".

He insisted that the CBI had not changed its position. He said Europe should integrate certain things that made sense, but not necessarily everything.

Adair Turner tells the BBC's Today programme about the CBI's position on Emu (2'56")

In particular he said there was no need to integrate social and fiscal policy. Although Emu did imply some form of economic co-operation, he said it was not necessary to fully integrate the tax-and-spend policies of different governments.

Mr Turner criticised those European Union governments who are pressing for the early introduction of the single currency.

He said Emu was going ahead in less than ideal conditions and therefore carried risks.

He argued that high unemployment and the poor state of public sector finances in many EU countries were reasons for delaying the project.

He accused governments of ignoring such problems in their desire to rush ahead and called for them to get away from "grand slogans".

He said there had been inadequate debate of the pros and cons of monetary union and said Europe's leaders should listen to public opinion. He believed many others across the continent shared his view.

He said the whole of Europe should discuss which aspects of economic policy should be integrated as part of Emu, instead of leaving individual countries to pick and choose.
 

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