BERLIN (MNI) – The Irish debt crisis is putting the euro at risk,
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned Tuesday.
“We are currently in a difficult international and European
environment,” Schaeuble said in a budget speech in parliament.
The request by Ireland for financial aid from the European Union
and the International Monetary Fund shows that the financial and
economic crisis continues to have an impact, “and that we still have to
do everything to get it under control,” he said.
“In this context, I want to say very clearly that our common
currency is at risk,” Schaeuble said.
“We have to assume responsibility,” he urged. “If we can’t defend
our currency effectively as a stable currency, the economic and social
consequences for our country and the people in our country would be
incalculable,” he warned.
Schaeuble again underlined that Germany will continue on its budget
consolidation course.
“It is extremely important to show in Germany that what is being
discussed so much internationally is indeed possible: to fight in a
measured way the main causes of the crisis — excessive deficits in
public budgets and liquidity bubbles in financial markets,” the minister
said.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$X$$$,M$$CR$,MT$$$$,MGX$$$,MFX$$$,M$$FX$,M$G$$$]
