Jean-Claude Juncker, “Greece must stretch its efforts”
Europe tightened the screw on Greece yesterday giving the country just 30 days to rein in its bulging deficit and debts.
But as Athens struggles to cope with the daunting mission of curbing its deficit, government has been struck with the news of a new wave of strikes thata re set to paralyese the nation.
However, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who held separate talks centered on trade with Russia’s top two leaders in Moscow, now faces intensified pressure domestically as Greek unions warned that the country is nearing breaking point.
Already severe austerity measures are set to be ramped up by March 16 after the 16 euro countries agreed yesterday to impose a vice-like grip of “additional measures,” further to cutting costs and raising taxes, should progress be deemed insufficient.
In a bid to regain market confidence, non-euro zone Sweden led a fresh charge going into a meeting of EU finance ministers, insisting that Athens must “surpass” financiers’ expectations if it is to fight off market attack dogs.
Eurogroup chairman and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker stressed yesterday that Greece must step up efforts to cut its budget deficit and understand that other euro zone citizens are not prepared to pay for its government’s mistakes.
Speaking on German national radio, Jean-Claude Juncker said if Greece failed to convince its partners within the euro zone with its austerity measures, it faced the risk of sanctions.
“Greece must know that taxpayers in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg aren’t ready to correct the failings of Greek budgetary policy,” Juncker said.
“We in the Eurogroup have agreed that Greece will have to undertake additional efforts,” he said.
Asked whether the euro zone finance ministers had discussed the option of providing aid to Athens, possibly under the supervision of a financial commissioner who would oversee economic developments in the country, Juncker replied: “We certainly did discuss such measures.”
Jean-Claude Juncker also replied to questions about reports that EU finance ministers had chosen Portugal’s Vitor Constancio to serve as the next vice-president of the ECB and if this paved the way for Bundesbank President Axel Weber to head the Frankfurt based central bank in 2011.
“I don’t see it like that,” Juncker said, noting that Luxembourg’s central bank Governor Yves Mersch had a proven track record, thereby making him a possible candidate to succeed ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet when his term ends next year.
“Germany will have to fight to appoint the next ECB chief,” he stressed.
“This short-term policy ... of ensuring that someone from southern Europe will be vice president of the bank so that someone from northern Europe -- i.e. Germany -- becomes president of the European Central Bank, is to take a very short-term view of things,” Juncker concluded.
