Strasbourg, 07/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 7 June, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, admitted the risks of the Greek crisis spreading to the rest of the eurozone, which could cause problems for Ireland when it wants to raise cash on the money markets to roll over its debt. Barroso said that it had already been seen in the past that the markets reacted not solely to the situation of a particular nation but also made generalisations, and risks therefore existed. He said that all member states' national economies were dependent on each other and all countries therefore, not Greece alone, had to make a combined effort to ensure stability in the eurozone because this was the only way to avoid the danger of contagion (a domino effect) sometimes identified by the markets.
Speaking in Montreal (Canada) on Monday, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Jean-Claude Trichet, said he opposed any restructuring of the Greek debt. Reuters reports that he pointed out that he had made it very clear that there was no need to restructure or revise down and such moves would not be appropriate. The option of asking European banks to keep their exposure in Greece, however, was something that the ECB felt was appropriate, he added. Trichet said it was absolutely essential that Greece continued to correct its budget problems because there was no alternative to structural adjustment. (M.B./transl.fl)