FRANKFURT (MNI) – The agreement of EU leaders to help Greece if
necessary shows that member states of the Eurozone will not allow the
euro to be destabilized, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday.
“The member states of the Eurozone are not allowing the euro to be
destabilized,” the chancellor told the media after the summit of EU
leaders in Brussels. It was also “very important that all countries
showed readiness” to act as a last resort to help Greece.
Merkel said the meeting did not deal with changing EU
rules, but only with measures to help Greece.
Germany will play an important role in efforts to improve the way
the Union deals with crises and addresses budget discipline, she said.
“We have seen that the situation in handling deficit procedures is not
adequate or sufficient.”
Over time, the EU should learn to solve such problems on its own,
Merkel said. “Today, in my view, we cannot do that,” she said. It must
be reactive enough to deal with short-comings in its treaties without
waiting for ten years, she said.
But she conceded that ratifying a treaty in 27 member states is not
a small thing. Still, she defended the current treaty rules in saying
that the no bail-out clause is not a mistake.
She also expressed happiness about sinking Greek sovereign debt
spreads.
Merkel assured that nothing had changed regarding the entry
criteria for countries wanting to join the euro, insisting that Estonia,
thought to be the next country in line, would be treated fairly. “Those
who want to come now, should be treated fairly,” she said.
–Frankfurt bureau; +49-69720142; frankfurt@marketnews.com
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