Brussels, 21/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - Speaking on Friday 21 October as he arrived for a special meeting of eurozone finance ministers, the chair of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, pointed out that the image being sent around the world by the failure of Europe to deal with its financial problems was “disastrous”. Friday's meeting was the first in a series to come up with a final, credible solution to the debt crisis ahead of the newly announced summit on Wednesday 26 October (see separate article). Juncker, who is also Luxembourg's prime minister, said that Europe is not really setting an example of effective leadership.
Describing the situation as serious and tense, Germany's finance minsiter, Wolfgang Schäuble, said that Europe had to agree before the Cannes G20 summit on 3-4 November. On increasing the clout of the European bailout fund, he said that Germany refused to agree to the French idea of the EFSF having access to ECB cash, being determined to stick to what is allowed by the EU Treaty (which does not allow such arrangements). Germany recommends that the EFSF introduce a guarantee system for a portion of the bonds issued by strugglig countries. (MB/transl.fl)