BERLIN (MNI) – Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on
Thursday reaffirmed the government’s stance for increasing the European
firewall against the debt crisis to around E700 billion.
In a speech in the German parliament, Schaeuble said he will lobby
at the Eurogroup meeting in Copenhagen Friday for the German proposal,
which would allow the roughly E200 billion in funds already committed by
Europe’s temporary bailout fund, the EFSF, to run in tandem with the
E500 billion of the planned permanent rescue fund, the ESM.
This size will be sufficient “to permanently fight uncertainties in
markets,” the minister argued.
Schaeuble asserted that the Eurozone is on track to overcome the
sovereign debt crisis. “The reform programs are working in Portugal and
Ireland,” he said. “And Spain and Italy have undertaken important
steps.”
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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