FRANKFURT (MNI) – Ireland has not yet sought assistance from its
European partners, but authorities stand ready act on any such request,
the head of Eurogroup of EMU finance ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker,
said Monday.
“The Irish authorities do have the situation under control,”
Luxembourg’s prime minister told journalists ahead of an event at the
Euro Finance Week here.
“Ireland has not put forward a request for external, that means
European, support,” Juncker said. “As long as the Irish [have] not put
forward a request, we are not supposed to deal with a theoretical
request.”
The decision as to whether or not to seek aid is “a decision to be
made by the Irish,” he said.
“So far the Irish did not make a request, if a request will be
submitted to the Eurogroup and to the others, we would be ready to take
effective action, but there is no Irish request,” he reiterated.
Asked about the idea of Ireland pursuing European support only for
its banking sector, as some have put forward, Juncker repeated, “That’s
a decision for the Irish authorities.”
“I don’t want to give public recommendations to the Irish, but if
they are ready to make a request, we are ready to respond as quickly as
possible to that request.”
–Frankfurt bureau, +49-69-720142, tbuell@marketnews.com
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