LONDON (MNI) – US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said today in
Rome that the world had been encouraged by the progress seen in the past
few weeks to resolve the Eurozone crisis.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister
Mario Monti, Geithner said that they had discussed EU leaders’s efforts
to strengthen the euro zone’s firewall.
Geithner said that such a firewall would give economic reforms in
the zone a chance to work.
Monti said that he had discussed with Geithner the progress of
fiscal and economic reforms in Italy and about preparations for the EU
summit in Brussels, which starts tonight. Monti said that he had also
discussed with Geithner the possibility of a treaty change and the
creation of a “credible financial firewall”.
Geithner is currently on a tour of major euro zone capitals in an
effort to boost leaders’ efforts to put together a deal to resolve the
crisis. The trip highlights the US Obama administration’s concern that
any further intensification of the crisis could threaten US economic
recovery.
–London newsroom: 4420 7862 7492; email: dthomas@marketnews.com
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