BRUSSELS (MNI) – European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso
Wednesday reiterated his support for strengthening Europe’s bailout
fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), and he declared
that Greece will not leave the Eurozone.
“The EFSF and the ESM (European Stability Mechanism) need to be
stronger and more flexible,” Barroso argued to a plenary session of the
European Parliament. He urged national governments to ratify the
expanded powers for those facilities agreed on by Eurozone leaders at an
emergency summit July 21.
Once ratified, more should be done to maximize the firepower of the
facilities, he said, possibly alluding to ideas floating around in
recent days to leverage the funds, as suggested by EU Economic and
Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn.
The Commission is looking at options to do this, he said.
“Greece is and will remain a member of the euro area,” Barroso
said. However, Athens must honor its commitments, he added.
The European Union is facing the biggest challenge in its history,
he told the assembled lawmakers.
The sovereign debt crisis is “first and foremost a crisis of
confidence” in Europe’s political leadership, he said, warning against
national governments’ increasing use of inter-governmental agreements
rather than the EU’s institutions to tackle the crisis.
“We can’t come up with partial solutions. We need an overall,
ambitious solution,” he said.
–Brussels newsroom, Peter Koh, +324-9522-7834; pkoh@marketnews.com
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