FRANKFURT (MNI) – Spain needs to emphasize its reform successes
more than its high borrowing costs, German Economics Minister Philipp
Roesler said in a press interview to be published Friday.
“Then the markets will associate Spain not only with interest
rates, but also with its enthusiasm for reform,” Roesler, who is
currently in Madrid for political talks, said in the pre-release of an
interview with German business daily Handelsblatt.
Roesler also said that Germany should have no compelling reason to
be weary of new bailouts, the newspaper reported, adding that the
minister countered speculation that Berlin would resist Spanish efforts
to submit itself completely to a European rescue.
“Quite the contrary,” he said, adding that it was up to the Spanish
government to decide whether to apply for financial assistance “and up
to governments and parliaments to decide at that point.”
“It is not an option to give Spain advice,” the Handelsblatt quoted
Roesler as saying. “But the country’s reputation is enormous; the reform
efforts of the country cannot be overstated.”
The business daily cited government sources saying that Spain would
need only E40 billion of the up to E100 billion in assistance for its
banking sector already promised from the European bailout fund.
— Frankfurt bureau: +49 69 720 142; email: frankfurt@mni-news.com
[TOPICS: M$S$$$,M$$CR$,MGX$$$]
