PARIS (MNI) – European Central Bank Governing Council member
Christian Noyer warned Wednesday against the notion that Eurozone
members will fall victim to market speculation one after another.

Speaking to an ad hoc parliamentary committee on financial
speculation, the governor of the Bank of France underscored that
conditions in each country are distinct and that neither Spain nor
Portugal could be compared with Ireland and Greece.

Each country is a “particular case,” Noyer stressed. The idea that
one country after another will fall like dominoes in a row “seems to me
is not based on anything.”

In no other EMU country were there “mistakes” on the level of
deficit and debt as was the case in Greece, he said.

Nor is the situation of Spain’s banks comparable to that of
Ireland’s, he said. In Spain, the banks are well regulated and
capitalized, with sufficient reserves. The special case of the “cajas”
was “handled well” by the government, he added.

Even if investors do not have confidence in the European Union, the
success of the IMF’s missions in South Korea and Mexico argues for
comparable success in Greece and Ireland, he said.

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