BERLIN (MNI) – German Economics Minister Rainer Bruederle said he
does not expect other countries will need to follow the example of
Greece and Ireland and seek financial aid from their Eurozone peers,
according to an interview with the German weekly Bild am Sonntag (BamS)
published Sunday. .
“I assume that we will be able to limit our aid to Greece and
Ireland and no further countries will come into troubles,” Bruederle
told the newspaper.
He noted in the interview that Spain and Portugal are doing
everything in their power to get their public budgets in order.
German Finance Ministry spokesman Martin Kreienbaum on Friday
rejected a media report which claimed that the Ministry was putting
pressure on Portugal to pre-emptively seek financial aid.
“We are assuming that the Portuguese efforts to get the budget back
on a proper and good path will be successful,” the spokesman said. Thus,
the Ministry sees no risk that Portugal will need to tap in the EU
rescue fund, he explained.
The euro is a stable currency and no inflation dangers are evident,
Bruederle asserted in the BamS interview. “When we have overcome this
crisis, the euro will be harder and stronger than ever before,” he told
the paper.
“The situation is serious but I’m optimistic,” he added.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Friday that Europe
currently faces an “extraordinarily critical and difficult” situation.
He stressed it was Germany’s duty to keep the euro stable.
Bruederle reaffirmed in the BamS interview that after the current
EU rescue funds run out by mid-2013, a new crisis mechanism is needed
where creditors will have to shoulder a share of the losses.
“Those who profit from elevated yields on government bonds have to
also share the risks,” he was quoted by the paper as saying.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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