BERLIN (MNI) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that
the current crisis of the euro is the biggest challenge for Europe in
decades and has to be met at any cost.
“To make it clear, the euro is in danger,” Merkel warned in a
government declaration in Parliament. “If we don’t avert this danger,
the consequences for Europe are incalculable, and the consequences
beyond Europe also incalculable,” she insisted.
If the euro fails, Europe will fail, she put it bluntly, adding
that some Eurozone states are “seriously threatened” by spreading
contagion.
The chancellor called for a new stability culture in Europe. “I’m
fully convinced that all member states must speed up [budget]
consolidation,” she said. She insisted that the access of Eurozone
states to EU financial rescue package was not automatic.
It is now the duty of politics to regulate financial markets and
interdict certain practices, since markets alone won’t be able to
correct the aberrations, she reckoned.
Moreover, financial markets need also to shoulder more of the cost
resulting from the crisis, she demanded.
As a consequence of the crisis, there need to be rules drawn up for
an orderly insolvency of both banks and states, the chancellor said.
The Eurozone states must also coordinate their economic policies
more closely, otherwise the European Monetary Union cannot endure in the
long term, she reasoned.
Commenting on the European Central Bank, the Chancellor reaffirmed
her commitment to defend its independence. She reminded that assuring
price stability was the main goal of the ECB. “And I a have no doubt
that it will fulfill this task with the same determination as before,”
Merkel underlined.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: MT$$$$,MGX$$$,M$X$$$,M$G$$$,MFX$$$,M$$EC$,M$$FX$,M$$CR$]
