PARIS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday called on other European Union leaders to stop quarreling about how to help struggling Greece and instead display the unity that has underpinned the euro currency since its creation over a decade ago.
“What we need most today, is unity,” Sarkozy said. “We have to leave the national fights behind us to find our sense of common destiny again.”
Over the past few weeks, leading policymakers in the eurozone have been at loggerheads over how to get private creditors to share some of the pain of bailing out Greece once again. On Tuesday, eurozone finance ministers failed to agree on new financing for Greece, laying bare the divisions on the strategy for Greece.
“It is our task to do everything possible to preserve the stability of the eurozone, because without stability, there is no growth possible for any of us,” he said at the opening of an international conference on food security.
Rich countries including Germany and the Netherlands insist that the private sector has to make a “substantial” contribution to new aid measures for Greece, with Germany proposing that banks give Athens an extra seven years to repay its bonds.
However, that demand has been forcefully rejected by the European Central Bank, which warns that such an extension could be interpreted as a partial default by Greece, potentially triggering panic on financial markets.
The ECB and some other countries have indicated that they want to go no further than asking banks and other private investor to maintain their exposure to Greece by buying up new bonds as old ones expire — a strategy that Germany says does not go far enough.
One week ahead of a European summit in Brussels where Greece is bound to take center stage, Sarkozy urged other EU leaders to make “necessary compromises” to protect the euro.
France’s three biggest banks are at risk of a credit downgrade because of exposure to Greek debt. European officials are talking about more aid to keep Greece from defaulting.
The Greek debt crisis will also be at the center of talks between Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday.
Source: www.washingtonpost.com
“What we need most today, is unity,” Sarkozy said. “We have to leave the national fights behind us to find our sense of common destiny again.”
Over the past few weeks, leading policymakers in the eurozone have been at loggerheads over how to get private creditors to share some of the pain of bailing out Greece once again. On Tuesday, eurozone finance ministers failed to agree on new financing for Greece, laying bare the divisions on the strategy for Greece.
“It is our task to do everything possible to preserve the stability of the eurozone, because without stability, there is no growth possible for any of us,” he said at the opening of an international conference on food security.
Rich countries including Germany and the Netherlands insist that the private sector has to make a “substantial” contribution to new aid measures for Greece, with Germany proposing that banks give Athens an extra seven years to repay its bonds.
However, that demand has been forcefully rejected by the European Central Bank, which warns that such an extension could be interpreted as a partial default by Greece, potentially triggering panic on financial markets.
The ECB and some other countries have indicated that they want to go no further than asking banks and other private investor to maintain their exposure to Greece by buying up new bonds as old ones expire — a strategy that Germany says does not go far enough.
One week ahead of a European summit in Brussels where Greece is bound to take center stage, Sarkozy urged other EU leaders to make “necessary compromises” to protect the euro.
France’s three biggest banks are at risk of a credit downgrade because of exposure to Greek debt. European officials are talking about more aid to keep Greece from defaulting.
The Greek debt crisis will also be at the center of talks between Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday.
Source: www.washingtonpost.com
No comments:
Post a Comment