BERLIN (MNI) – The German government on Wednesday said the European
bailout funds are ready to support Spain in its attempt to prop up its
ailing banking sector if the country applies for aid and accepts the
conditions tied to it.
Germany again reaffirmed its stance that the European temporary
rescue fund EFSF and the planned permanent ESM can lend only to states
and not directly to banks.
“The principles are clear, the request must come from a
government,” spokesman Steffen Seibert said at a regular press
conference here. “This government will then be liable and accepts the
conditions tied to getting the aid.”
Seibert said if the Spanish government decides to request aid “then
the European instruments are ready under the described terms.”
Earlier today, the parliamentary leader of Chancellor Angela
Merkel’s CDU/CSU bloc, Volker Kauder, called on Spain to apply for
financial aid.
“I do think that Spain needs to tap the rescue fund – not because
of its state [finances] but because of its banks,” Kauder told German
ARD public television.
Meanwhile, the German daily Die Welt reported in its Wednesday
edition that Spain may get a precautionary credit line from the EFSF,
which still had to be requested by the Spanish government itself.
The German weekly Der Spiegel reported over the weekend that Merkel
and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble had also urged Spain to apply
for financial aid from the EFSF, yet the Spanish government had resisted
this demand.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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