German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy outlined the increased pace of their response as the financial crisis that began in Greece in 2009 entered its third year, amid concern that the future of the single currency itself was in doubt.
“There is a good chance that we can sign the debt brakes and everything that’s connected to it already in January, but at the latest in March, and that we’re making really good progress in negotiations”, Merkel said at a joint press conference with Sarkozy after they met in Berlin today. “Germany and France made a substantial contribution to this.”
The leaders of Europe’s two biggest economies are fleshing out a rulebook for budgetary discipline negotiated at a December 9 summit that seeks to create a “fiscal compact” for the 17-member euro area. At their first meeting of 2012, they repeated their endorsement of a financial transaction tax and urged Greece to complete its debt writedown with creditors as soon as possible.
In the broader effort to stem the crisis, Germany and France “are ready to examine” how to speed up capital payments into the European Stability Mechanism, the region’s permanent rescue fund, Merkel said.
EU leaders agreed to accelerate the start of the €500 billion ($638 billion) fund to mid-2012 at their December summit, the same meeting that set a March deadline for the blueprint for a closer fiscal union.
Full article
© Bloomberg
Key
Hover over the blue highlighted
text to view the acronym meaning
Hover
over these icons for more information
Comments:
No Comments for this Article