FRANKFURT (MNI) – The stability of the euro must have the highest
priority for policy makers, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday.
European leaders “will have a fundamental discussion” at their
upcoming conference in Brussels “to make very clear the primacy of
policymakers in ensuring that the stability of the euro has absolute
priority for us,” Merkel said in a statement in Berlin after the
Bundestag approved the government’s Greece aid bill.
“What we have as our highest political goal is a stable and secure
currency for the citizens in Germany,” she added.
Asked how she knew that the investment of the German taxpayer in
Greece would be secure, she said, “I believe that the best security we
could have come up with is that Greece has made a very ambitious
austerity program with great political courage.”
“I have always said that the problem has to be approached at its
roots and now the point is securing the complete stability of the euro.
That also means the protection of our currency in Germany,” she
explained.
The Chancellor said she hoped to push for financial market
regulation at the level of the G20. Moreover, she stressed the need for
all European countries “to do their homework” regarding the requirements
of the EU Stability and Growth Pact.
–Frankfurt bureau; +49-69-720142; frankfurt@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: MT$$$$,MGX$$$,M$X$$$,MGX$$$,M$G$$$,MFX$$$,M$$FX$]
