BERLIN (MNI) – Germany and France are considering the possibility
of speeding up the funding for the future bailout fund, the European
Stability Mechanism (ESM), German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French
President Nicolas Sarkozy said at a joint press conference on Monday.
“Germany and France are ready — naturally in consultations with
the other [Eurozone] states — to check the extent to which we can
speed up the capital payments” to the ESM, Merkel said.
Sarkozy seconded her, saying, “we are ready to speed up its
capitalisation.”
The French president warned that the situation in the Eurozone “is
extremely tense” and that there is no alternative to saving the euro.
Merkel said the Eurozone states will succeed at salvaging the euro in
the end, even though the goal is “ambitious.”
“Our goal is that no country need to leave the Eurozone,” Merkel
stressed.
Regarding the inter-governmental treaty on a new fiscal pact in
Europe, Sarkozy said he expected the negotiations to be finalized over
the next days and the treaty to be signed on March 1.
Merkel also underlined that negotiations on the pact “are
proceeding extremely well.”
With the fiscal pact well on its way, both leaders stressed the
need to put a priority on economic growth and job creation in the
Eurozone now.
In other remarks, Sarkozy reaffirmed that his government aims to
forge ahead with a financial transaction tax in France, even if other
European countries don’t follow right away. Merkel said she still
favored an introduction of the tax at the EU-level or, if that is not
possible, among the 17 Eurozone countries. The UK, a non-Eurozone EU
country, steadfastly opposes such a tax because of London’s huge
financial services industry.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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