PARIS (MNI) – France’s new budget minister, Valerie Pecresse, said
Thursday that rescuing Greece and preserving the euro remained a top
priority at the European level and that fiscal consolidation would
continue to guide domestic policy.
Previously minister for research and higher education, Pecresse
takes over for Francois Baroin, who was appointed Wednesday to succeed
Christine Lagarde at the helm of the Ministry for Economics and Finance.
In a radio interview, Pecresse expressed “great esteem” for Baroin
and predicted the two would form “a very good tandem.”
She pledged to “stay the course” laid down by Baroin and the
government to bring the public deficit into line with the Maastricht
ceilings by 2013.
“The reduction of deficits is our goal,” she said. “We no longer
want to live beyond our means.”
“We are doing everything for the stability of the Eurozone, we are
doing everything to save Greece,” she stressed. “Why? Simply because our
destinies are linked.”
“If we lost the euro today, our debt would remain dominated in
euros and we could not pay it back,” she added.
–Paris newsroom +331 4271 5540; Email: stephen@marketnews.com
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