BERLIN (MNI) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that
she will lobby at the EU Council meeting this week for any eventual
financial aid for Greece to come jointly from the IMF and the EMU member
states.
She stressed, however, that the EU Council will not decide on
“concrete aid” but only “specify” details that were not given in the
more general announcement of EU leaders from Feb 11 to stabilize the
Eurozone if need be.
“The [German] federal government will lobby at the EU Council today
and tomorrow that such aid in an emergency case will be granted as a
combination of IMF and joint bilateral aid from the Eurozone,” the
Chancellor stressed in a government declaration in the German
parliament.
“I will strongly argue that such a decision on IMF and bilateral
aid be adopted and we will again work very closely with France on that,”
she said. However, Merkel stressed that such a step would only be a
measure of last resort to be used “when a member of the Eurozone had no
access to capital markets anymore.”
The Chancellor warned that “if a member of the EMU were to go into
default in the current situation, this would carry grave risks for
Europe and for Germany.” Thus, it is in the best interest of Europe and
Germany to prevent grave disturbances of financial stability in the
Eurozone or on global financial markets, she argued.
“We must not let this happen,” Merkel stressed.
The Chancellor also demanded that sanctions against EMU members
with excessive deficits be made more effective. There needed to be
regular proceedings governing assistance to ailing EMU members in the
future without endangering financial stability, she said.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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