FRANKFURT (MNI) – The crisis in Greece has become a test for the
survival of the euro, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said in an
interview with Time magazine, the U.S. weekly, published Friday.
“In a sense in the European Union we have become a test case of
both the euro — its survival — and how to deal with this high deficit
in a time of crisis. It’s not only a Greek problem,” Papandreou said in
the interview, which was conducted on March 29.
At the same time, the crisis offers an opportunity to create a
stronger Europe, Papandreou argued.
“I think what Europe has been able to do over the years is, as it’s
hit crises it’s been able to creatively become stronger, to use the
crisis as an opportunity and that’s what I’ve said also in the European
Union,” he said.
Papandreou said that recent decisions by the Euro Group — aimed at
“setting up a mechanism and even setting up a task force which may even
bring in new rules, new ideas, new changes in the law, new changes in
the treaty of how we govern our economy, and how we govern the European
Union” — represented a first step in the right direction.
“We are a staunch pro-European nation,” Papandreou said. “I think
Europe is in a transition, but I think it’s a very important
transition.”
In this transition, the European Union should “pool our
sovereignty” and “also regulating things: markets, our deficits, our
economies,” he told the magazine.
–Frankfurt Bureau tel.: +49-69-720 142, email: frankfurt@marketnews.com
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