French president Nicolas Sarkozy said the euro region is ready to rescue Greece should the government struggle to fund its budget deficit, arguing that the country is “under attack” from speculators.
“I want to be very clear: if it were necessary, the states of the euro zone would fulfill their commitments,” he said in Paris yesterday after a meeting with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou. “There can be no doubt in this regard.” While Greece doesn’t need assistance right now, “we have measures, we are ready, we are determined,” he said.
Mr Sarkozy’s comments are among the strongest by an EU leader to signal the bloc would bail out Greece as they try to warn investors off making further bets against the euro and Greek bonds.
Mr Papandreou’s government last week passed further austerity measures and sold €5 billion of debt.
“Speculators and the markets should know that solidarity means something and that, if there’s a problem, we are there,” said Mr Sarkozy. “The sooner we say that and the more firmly we say that, the more rapidly we settle the problem.”
The euro strengthened and Asian stocks rose. The euro gained 0.3 per cent to $1.3671 at 3.45pm in Tokyo, paring its losses over the past three months to 7 per cent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 1.8 per cent to a six-week high.
Bloomberg