BERLIN (MNI) – German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble over the
weekend again reaffirmed Germany’s opposition to joint liabilities in
the Eurozone before a real fiscal union has been achieved.
“As long as we do not have a fiscal union we cannot have joint
liabilities for [sovereign] debt,” Schaeuble told the German weekly Der
Spiegel in an interview published Sunday.
In a separate interview for German ZDF public television aired
Sunday, Schaeuble called instead for a fight against the causes of the
sovereign debt crisis: “Money alone or bailouts or any other solutions,
or monetary policy at the ECB — that will never resolve the problem.”
Fighting the causes of the crisis is “succeeding very well in
Ireland and Portugal,” the minister told ZDF. Italy and Spain are making
“great reform efforts,” he said.
However, Greece has not progressed enough on its budget
consolidation and reform path, Schaeuble said. “Nobody on earth who has
followed this issue would think that Greece has fulfilled what it has
promised.”
In an interview with the German weekly Bild am Sonntag published
Sunday, Schaeuble said the most important task facing new Greek Prime
Minister Antonis Samaras “is to enact the agreed program quickly and
without further delay instead of asking how much more others can do for
Greece.”
In the Spiegel interview, Schaeuble also called for handing more
powers to the European Union: “We must transfer more responsibilities to
Brussels in major political areas, without national governments being
able to block decisions.”
He also warned against a break-up of the European Monetary Union:
“Many things that we have achieved and cherish would be called into
question — from the common market to free travel across Europe”.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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