BRUSSELS (MNI) – The European Commission Tuesday rejected
suggestions that the EU’s response to the Eurozone’s sovereign debt
crisis lacked leadership, but acknowledged that there was a mismatch
between the speed of Europe’s ability to react and the market’s needs.
There is “no lack of leadership at the EU level on the crisis”,
said Olivier Bailly, a spokesperson for the commission in Brussels.
“Decision making is fast enough at the EU and national level,” he
said. “What’s necessary now is fast implementation.”
There was, however, “a mismatch between the work going behind the
scenes” and the “need from the market to see concrete measures
happening,” said Bailly.
EU institutions and Eurozone member states were working “as fast as
possible” to take concrete measures, including fiscal consolidation and
structural reforms, to reassure markets and boost growth.
A number of Eurozone countries have also called for earlier
parliamentary sessions in September to speed through approval of
legislative changes needed to boost the flexibility of the EU’s crisis
fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), he said.
“We are progressing at quite a fast pace,” said Bailly.
The spokesperson for the EU’s executive branch also dismissed as
premature analyses concluding that the EU was heading for a ‘double-dip’
recession.
On the implications of Standard and Poor’s decision to downgrade
the credit rating of the United States, the European Commission would be
publishing an analysis in mid-September, he said.
— Frankfurt bureau: +49-69-720 142; email: frankfurt@marketnews.com —
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