BERLIN (MNI) – German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said
Friday that Spain is on a successful reform path and does not need to
apply for aid from its Eurozone peers.
“I’m steadfast in my opinion that Spain is on the right path and
does not need a further program,” Schaeuble said at a briefing for
foreign journalists in Berlin.
“Spain needs confidence and this will not be improved by talk”
about the need for Spain to request aid from Europe’s permanent bailout
fund, the European Stability Mechanism, the minister cautioned.
“Spain is suffering from the speculation about the stability of the
Eurozone as a whole,” Schaeuble argued.
He noted that there are still “significant contagion risks” from
the uncertainties regarding the reform and budget consolidation path of
Greece. “Spain and Italy have massively suffered this year” from that
contagion, he remarked.
Schaeuble said he won’t participate in speculation on whether
Greece will need a further haircut on its sovereign debt, because such
discussions “help nobody but hurt many.”
Instead, Greece should focus on implementing its current reform and
consolidation program, he stressed.
“Nobody wants Greece to leave the euro,” the minister said. “If the
euro fails, Germany risks losing more than the Greeks do.”
Regarding Italy, Schaeuble said he hoped that the next government
in Rome will continue on the current reform path. “I’m really confident
regarding Italy,” he said.
Schaeuble once again backed the European Central Bank’s new
bond-buying program, the OMT. He said he had no reason to doubt the
ECB’s promise that the OMT does not carry any inflation risk.
Commenting on liquidity injections worldwide, the minister said “I
do not believe that we can assure sustainable economic development by
ever more liquidity.”
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@mni-news.com
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