BERLIN (MNI) – The head of the European Financial Stability
Facility (EFSF), Klaus Regling, on Friday argued that the reform process
in the European crisis countries was already halfway complete.
“The strategy is working, one can see this in the adaption progress
in the individual countries,” Regling said at a panel discussion at a
conference organized by German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung here. “The
current-account deficits are markedly declining,” he observed.
“This process must continue, but If I look at the data I’m drawing
the conclusion that more than half has been achieved,” he reckoned.
“Ireland is already out [of the crisis] and Portugal is on its way out,”
said Regling, who is also head of Europe’s new permanent bailout fund,
the European Stability Mechanism.
Greece, Regling acknowledged, is an exceptional case.
Hans-Werner Sinn, the head of Germany’s Ifo economic research
institute, disputed Regling’s claim. Speaking at the same panel, he
argued that only “large style debt haircuts” in southern Europe will
solve the euro crisis.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@mni-news.com
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