EU Finance Ministers Discuss Recapitalisation Of Banks
By KUNA
European Union finance ministers began talks \Saturday to find ways to solve the debt crisis plaguing Europe. Issues like bank recapitalizations, the eurozone’s bailout fund EFSF, further debt relief for Greece, growth stimulation, and tighter budget discipline are to be tackled by the ministers of the 27-member European bloc.
Jean-Claude Juncker, Eurogroup President, told reporters that finance ministers of the 17-member Eurogroup who met here last night have agreed that banks need to take substantial losses on their Greek bondholdings. Banks are also being asked to shoulder more of the burden of saving Greece from bankruptcy to prevent further contagion.
British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne told reporters on arrival that “we need to address the root causes of this problem, we need the lasting solution that will help all of Europe’s economy growing. It is in Britain’s national interest that this is resolved, and this is resolved now.”
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said the decision by the Eurozone finance ministers yesterday to release 8 billion euros in payment to Greece for the next instalment “is a very good, positive and constructive step.”
“But in any case, Greece is not a central problem for the Eurozone. Now the point is to take a more general and more constructive decision for the Eurozone as a whole,” he added.
