by afew
Fri Feb 12th, 2010 at 01:38:33 PM EST
After the Council meeting yesterday, Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the Euro Group (finance ministers of the Eurozone countries), gave an interview to Jean Quatremer, journalist at Libération and Brussels blogger. The following quotes are taken from Quatremer's blog, Backstage Brussels.
Quatremer asks if the conclusion of the Council meeting is that "if part of the markets go on attacking Greece, the Eurozone member states will step in".
Juncker:
Juncker: "on ne laissera pas tomber la Grèce" - Coulisses de Bruxelles, UE
Donc si une partie des marchés continue à attaquer la Grèce, les Etats de la zone euro interviendront ?
Pas tant que ce pays n’aura pas fait ce qu’elle doit faire. La Grèce doit d’abord tenir ses engagements et répondre à nos attentes. Sans cela, on ne peut pas donner d’argent. Le plan grec doit apparaître comme étant crédible. Si les marchés mettent en cause la crédibilité de la démarche grecque, des mesures additionnelles devront être prises. La zone euro n’interviendra que lorsque cela aura été fait. C’est un appui conditionnel.
"Not as long as the country hasn't done what it must do. Greece must first respect its commitments and measure up to our expectations. Without that, we can't give [Greece] any money. The Greek plan must appear credible. If the markets doubt the credibility of the Greek programme, further steps will have to be taken. The Euro zone will only intervene once that has been done. Our support is conditional." (emphasis mine).
Read on...
Juncker goes on to say there was no debate at the Council meeting. The decisions were worked out during a teleconference of finance ministers he organized on Wednesday, then in a meeting he held on Thursday morning with Jean-Claude Trichet, Herman Van Rompuy, and Jose Manuel Barroso. Their decisions were simply submitted to Council for approval (sic).
Quatremer asks what kind of steps could be taken to support Greece: purchases of Greek debt by each member state or by the ECB on the secondary market?
L’hypothèse que l’on mettrait en place un instrument consistant à échanger des titres est valable. Ce n’est probablement pas la seule initiative que nous pourrions prendre. L’essentiel est que ces instruments bilatéraux, puisque l’Union ne peut intervenir directement, soient coordonnés au niveau de la zone euro. Il faut que cette aide à la Grèce apparaisse comme une mesure cohérente, déterminée et coordonnée de la zone euro. Il est dommage que plusieurs Etats se soient opposés dans le passé à la création d’un instrument qui nous aurait permis d’émettre des euro-obligations, ce qui aurait été plus simple. Mais, au moins, il y aura une réaction coordonnée de la zone euro.
"It's a valid hypothesis that we would set up a securities exchange instrument. This is probably not the only initiative we could take. The main thing is that these bilateral instruments, since the Union can't intervene directly, should be coordinated at Eurozone level. This support for Greece must appear as a coherent, determined, and coordinated step taken by the Eurozone. It's a pity that some countries objected in the past to the creation of an instrument that would have allowed us to emit Eurobonds, which would have been simpler. But, at least, there will be a coordinated response from the Eurozone."
Another question from Quatremer is: Hasn't the Eurozone used the markets to force Greece to carry out reforms that it had always refused to implement?
Juncker:
Comme dernier rédacteur du traité de Maastricht encore en fonction, je peux vous dire que nous avons toujours estimé que si un Etat divergeait en dépit de toutes les mises en garde, il y aurait une sanction des marchés financiers. Nous ne sommes pas dans un monde où la sanction n’existe plus sous prétexte qu’on est membre de la zone euro. Mais je pense que les marchés exagèrent et spéculent désormais sur la probabilité d’une absence de réaction de la zone euro. Ils ont tort : on ne laissera pas tomber la Grèce.
"As the last drafter of the Maastricht treaty still in office, I can tell you that we have always considered that if a member state strayed [from the rules] in spite of all the warnings, there would be a sanction from the financial markets. We are not in a world where there are no sanctions just because one is a member of the Eurozone. But I think the markets exaggerate and are speculating now on an absence of reaction from the Eurozone. They are wrong; we won't abandon Greece."
Quatremer: Doesn't the present crisis show there's a lack of governance of the Eurozone?
Il n’y a pas eu une absence totale de gouvernance de la zone euro, le pacte de stabilité est là pour le prouver. Mais nous avons désormais décidé, après de mauvaises expériences, de davantage nous concentrer sur les divergences de compétitivité qui existent entre les Etats membres de la zone euro. Si un Etat diverge, nous aurons avec lui un débat viril. De même, il faudra que chaque gouvernement discute d’abord au sein de l’Eurogroupe des mesures de politique économique qu’il compte prendre avant de les annoncer dans son propre pays. Je n’accepterai plus aucun manquement aux obligations inhérentes à l’appartenance à la zone euro. Il faudra que nous soyons plus sévères entre nous.
"There hasn't been a total lack of governance of the Eurozone, the stability pact is there to prove it. But we have now decided, after negative experiences, to focus more on the competitivity gaps that exist between Eurozone member states. If a country slips away, we will have a virile debate with it (sic). Also, each government is going to have to discuss in the Euro Group economic policy measures it intends to take before announcing them within its own country. I will no longer accept any breach of the the obligations that come with belonging to the Euro zone. We must be more severe with each other."
Finally, according to Juncker, there is now agreement between Paris and Berlin. And Trichet is also in full agreement with the decisions taken by the Council.
