–Says All Eyes Are On Greece; Spain/EU On ‘Right Track’
LONDON (MN) – French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said today
that the government would not embark on a ‘tax frenzy’ to meet what he
called its ‘realistic’ but ‘ambitious’ deficit-cutting goals.
“France has favoured a realistic yet ambitious budgetary path,” he
stressed.
The minister told an audience at the London School of Economics
that the government had already started talks on its 2013 budget and
reiterated that the goal was to reduce the deficit to 3% of GDP newxt
year and to balance the budget by 2017.
“We could not be more serious about the deficit,” Moscovici said.
“We do not want financial markets to be constantly breathing down
our neck,” he added.
Turning to other issues, Moscovici said that “all eyes are now on
Greece”.
While the country, he said, “belongs to the euro zone”, he added –
“Greece must not stay at any price”.
“The Greek government needs to make efforts,” he said.
“But if they do this, then we must have definite solutions for
Greece in the euro zone,” he continued.
On the issue of Spain’s impending bailout request, the minister
said that both Brussels and Madrid were on the “right track”.
Moscovici congratulated the ECB for its recently announced
bond-buying plan.
–London Bureau; tel: +442078627499; email:
sarah.mewes@ntkn.com/dthomas@marketnews.com
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