Leader of Germany's Free Democratic Party Philipp Rösler addresses the media at the party's headquarters on Dec. 14.
Πηγή: The Wall Street Journal
By WILLIAM BOSTON and ANDREAS KISSLER
Feb 2 2012
BERLIN—A German cabinet minister rejected demands to involve the European Central Bank directly in efforts to reduce Greece's debt as international pressure is growing on the ECB to make a significant contribution to restructuring Athens' debt by accepting a haircut on its huge cache of Greek bonds.
Leader of Germany's Free Democratic Party Philipp Rösler addresses the media at the party's headquarters on Dec. 14.
"This is not currently an issue for us," said German Economy Minister Philipp Rösler in an exclusive interview with Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal, when asked whether the ECB should be involved in Greece's debt restructuring. "The current discussion is primarily about private-sector involvement. European states and their taxpayers already make a massive contribution to Greece's restructuring process though their support efforts."
Mr. Rösler was speaking as a crucial deal to restructure more than €200 billion ($262.9 billion) of Greek bonds held by private investors appeared to be held up by squabbling between Germany and the International Monetary Fund over the involvement of so-called official creditors. The IMF, which together with the European Commission and the ECB forms the troika overseeing the Greek rescue, is urging the ECB to also accept a write-down on the estimated €40 billion of Greek bonds that it holds. Germany, at least for now, is refusing to throw the ECB-held bonds into the discussion.
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos added to the pressure on the ECB on Thursday, when he suggested that Greece could not reach its goal of lowering its debt to 120% of gross domestic product by 2020 without the involvement of the ECB in the debt restructuring. "The European Central Bank has to take part," he told a meeting of Socialist lawmakers in Athens.
Mr. Rösler, who turns 39 this month, has enjoyed a storybook career in Germany. Born in war-time Vietnam, Mr. Rösler was an orphan, adopted by German parents when he was nine months old and brought to West Germany. He grew up in Lower Saxony, a sprawling northwestern state that borders the Netherlands and the North Sea. Trained as a doctor, Mr. Rösler took the helm of the pro-business Free Democrats in May last year, assuming the role of economy minister and vice chancellor in Angela Merkel's center-right coalition government. He faces an uphill battle to restore a party that once was known as the kingmaker in German coalitions but has sunk in public opinion polls.
He faces a major test as party leader in May, when the FDP stands for re-election in a vote that analysts say could also determine whether Mr. Rösler will continue as party leader or be forced to fall on his sword in the event of an embarrassing defeat at the polls. Displaying his trademark optimism, Mr. Rösler shrugged off suggestions that his political star could be sinking. "We are determined to win the election," he said. "We are in love with success, not with failure."
During a wide-ranging interview in his office in central Berlin, Mr. Rösler expressed confidence that Greece could master its crisis and remain in the euro zone, but demanded that Athens keep up its part of the bargain in exchange for European assistance. He insisted that Germany and Europe are ready to provide Athens with "every form of technical assistance, advice and support on the ground" to revive the country's battered economy, he said. Mr. Rösler last year launched an initiative to create a Greek development bank, modeled after Germany's Marshall Plan-era Bank for Reconstruction and Development. But Mr. Rösler also turned up the pressure on Athens to fully implement budget reforms it agreed to in exchange for a €130 billion European aid package. He said easing the pressure on Greece now to implement economic and budget reforms would send the wrong signal. "The aim is still that the agreed measures not just remain on the paper, but are implemented in a timely fashion," he said. Mr. Rösler appeared to distance himself from a German proposal to impose an external budget czar in Athens to oversee Greece's reforms. He said the Greek budget should remain the responsibility of the Greek parliament. "But it is completely legitimate to accompany financial aid with a clear and strict monitoring process," he said. "We owe that to taxpayers."
As Germany's economy minister, Mr. Rösler is forecasting that Europe's largest economy would avoid a recession this year, swinging back into growth in the spring after a dip in output over the winter months. "We expect a growth rate of 1.6% for 2013," he said, adding that support for the German economy is coming largely from private consumption, a sign that Germany's domestic economy and not just its export-driven industries is providing support for the broader European economy.
Germany has been criticized for imposing an austerity cure on weakened euro-zone economies such as Greece, Portugal and Ireland. Some critics say that Germany's insistence on reining in debt, embodied in commitments by 25 of the 27 European Union leaders to adopt German-style debt brakes that requires EU countries to balance budgets, could further destabilize the euro zone by starving troubled economies of the cash they need to promote growth. The IMF, while embracing a drive to reduce sovereign debt in Europe, has urged the bloc's stronger economies to slow the austerity drive to create the demand needed to allow smaller economies on the periphery to grow.
Mr. Rösler, rejecting calls for Germany to slow its budget-cutting drive, praised the fiscal pact signed by European leaders at their Jan. 30 summit and dismissed calls on Berlin to do more by relaxing its austerity drive or providing economic stimulus. "Our imports will grow stronger than our exports this year," he said. "Through the dynamism of our economic development alone Germany is contributing to the stabilization of the entire European region."
The cure for Europe's economic ills is not more money for bailouts, but solid finances and the confidence of financial markets, he said.
"The more successful we are shoring up the credibility of our stability policies, the less we will need bailout funds," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment