BRUSSELS (MNI) – Ireland can avoid asking its European partners for
help to pay its debts if it stick to the plan to cut its budget deficit,
Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker said Monday.

“I do think that the Irish authorities will manage to make sure
that the budgetary targets that have been fixed will be observed,”
Luxembourg’s prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters as he
arrived to speak to lawmakers at the European parliament here.

Juncker said he was sure that if the country’s plan to save E6
billion next year was successful, “we wouldn’t have a major problem.”

The Irish government, which is grappling with a budget deficit of
11.9% of GDP this year, plans to impose a further E15 billion in savings
over the next four years, with E6 billion to come in 2011.

Juncker said he had “confidence that the Irish authorities will be
able to implement the multi-annual programme which will correct their
deficit by 2014.”

“I would like to pay tribute to the main political forces in
Ireland for having made this decision… and for being brave about it,”
the Eurogroup president said.

An EU delegation led by European Commissioner for Economic and
Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn is in Dublin this week to discuss the
four-year plan.

“We continue to face a very difficult situation, globally speaking,
and at European level,” Juncker told parliament.

He said Eurozone growth was “mediocre” and that there were still
concerns about high debt and deficit levels in several countries,
including Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

“Greece has to respect current obligations,” he insisted. “It is
doing that, with courage, and I am sure that Greece will reach steady
ground again.”

“We think that the Greek authorities will be able to respect the
target zones that were set for 2011,” he added, saying that “the
rigorous programme continues to be credible [and] will be reflected in
future reality.”

“We also have to remember that Greek growth in 2010 has retracted,
so that means structural reforms will have to be undertaken and the
Greek government will have to take extra measures,” Juncker said.

After running up a huge debt burden and concealing it from the EU
authorities, Greece was thrown a E110 billion lifeline by the
International Monetary Fund and the Eurozone in May this year. The loans
were offered in exchange for the implementation of a strict austerity
plan.

–Brussels: 0032 487 (0) 32 803 665, echarlton@marketnews.com

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