DEAUVILLE, France (MNI) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy excluded
Friday an outright restructuring of Greece’s debt but left open the door
for “sharing the burden” with the private sector.

Speaking after consultations with Chancellor Angela Merkel at the
G8 summit here, Sarkozy made clear that he shared Germany’s
long-standing position that governments and their taxpayers should not
shoulder responsibility for the financial crisis alone.

“France will not use the word ‘restructuring’,” Sarkozy declared.
“We must not envisage this reality.”

However, if the issue is whether the private sector can “share part
of the burden, we are not at all in ‘restructuring’,” he said. “There is
no problem….It’s the direction to which each side should converge.”

“The important thing is that we will defend and support the euro
and the solidarity” within the Eurozone, Sarkozy said. “The credibility
of European countries is capital, and we cannot and will not compromise
on this term of credibility.”

“As for the participation of the private sector, there are many
ways to do it without damaging this credibility,” he said.

Germany is “a strategic partner for France,” he stressed. “I won’t
say anything that could disrupt the collaboration of confidence with
Madame Merkel and the German government, which is indispensable.”

“Anything that could jeopardize the future of the euro would
jeopardize the future of Europe and even the future of France and of
Germany,” he said.

While Greece’s debt problems were not on the agenda of the G8, the
situation of the Eurozone was discussed — its strong growth since the
start of the year and its relatively favorable overall deficit situation
compared to other economic zones, Sarkozy said.

The French president noted a “paradox” in evoking a crisis of the
euro at a time when the single currency’s exchange rate against the
dollar is higher than when it was first launched, “which sometimes poses
a problem — the high level of the euro — in financing our exports.”

Asked by journalists whether US President Barack Obama had lent his
support to the candidacy of French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde
for the helm of the IMF, Sarkozy said he would allow Obama himself
announce his decision.

Nevertheless, noting the “personal” encouragement US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton expressed for Lagarde, Sarkozy quipped, “It would
be hard for me to imagine there is a disagreement” between her and
Obama.

–Paris newsroom +331 4271 5540; stephen@marketnews.com

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