This is what we have done throughout the crisis, faithful to our mandate of maintaining price stability over the medium term - and this is what we will continue to do,” he said.ĭraghi also said that no euro zone country faces an inflation risk, which is the bank’s main concern. “The ECB has the crucial role of providing liquidity to sound bank counterparties in return for adequate collateral. She meant France.ĭraghi said the ECB was ready to provide money to solvent banks if they needed it, a clear plan to avoid the kind of credit crunch that occurred during the Lehman Brother crisis in 2008. Responding to Hollande’s call for more euro zone solidarity, she said Germany had wanted to give the European Court of Justice the power to reject national budgets that breach EU rules but others had objected. “Europe must discuss the growing differences in economic strength between France and Germany,” Merkel said. In a sign of growing strain between Europe’s central powers, Merkel hit out at France in response to Hollande’s proposals for joint euro zone bonds and a joint bank deposit guarantee scheme. “In all likelihood, whatever the outcome, we are going to have a government which is going to find it hard to live up to the agreements they (the Greeks) have signed up to.” WORSENING OUTLOOK “At best, we are going to have a situation that is extremely serious on Monday,” Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg told journalists. They fell slightly on Friday and European shares gained on expectations of global central bank response. Madrid’s borrowing costs rose above 7 percent on Thursday, a level that is widely considered unsustainable. Such an outcome could drive Greece into default and possibly out of the euro zone, a prospect that could undermine faith in the currency bloc and add to pressure on the finances of bigger economies such as Italy and Spain. The focal point for all is Sunday’s repeat general election in Greece, a knife-edge race that could be won by parties vowing to tear up the harsh economic terms that the European Union and International Monetary Fund imposed as conditions of a bailout for the near-bankrupt state. Officials from the G20 nations, whose leaders are meeting in Mexico next week, say numerous central banks are preparing to take steps to stabilise financial markets - if needed - by providing liquidity and prevent any credit squeeze.Įuropean Council President Herman Van Rompuy convened a conference call on Friday afternoon with the leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Britain, officially to discuss preparations for the G20 summit, expected to be dominated by the euro zone debt crisis.ĭepending on the depth of any turmoil, an emergency meeting of ministers from the Group of Seven developed nations could be held on Monday or Tuesday during the summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, sources said. The Bank of England followed up on Thursday’s joint announcement with the government of a 100 billion pound offer of loans to banks by saying it will start next week with a charge of just 0.75 percent. It was an echo of strong pledges from the Swiss National Bank on Thursday that it would do what it takes to protect the franc from soaring. Japan’s top financial diplomat Takehiko Nakao warned that authorities in Tokyo would respond to unwelcome currency moves as appropriate, a clear threat of intervention if investors seeking safety push the yen too high. “This risk has to do mostly with the heightened uncertainty.” “There are serious downside risks here,” Draghi told the annual ECB Watchers conference in Frankfurt, two days before the vote that could set Athens on a path out of the euro zone and stoke turmoil in financial markets. He painted a picture of a deteriorating euro zone economy with no inflation danger - conditions for monetary easing. “We must do everything possible to prevent the euro zone from falling apart,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on television.ĮCB President Mario Draghi, one of many policymakers gearing up for trouble after Sunday’s vote in Greece, said his bank was ready to step in and fund any viable euro zone bank that gets in trouble. German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticised France’s economic performance, effectively taking a swipe at Socialist President Francois Hollande who has called for more emphasis on economic growth and less on budget austerity. Tensions were high about how to manage the euro zone’s debt crisis - epitomised by Greece’s bankruptcy and need for international aid - and a rare fight broke out between Germany and France, normally the glue that keeps the bloc together. An one Greek Drachma coin (C) is displayed on an European flag between one Euro coins in this picture illustration taken in Istanbul June 14, 2012.
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