Copenhagen, 12/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 12 January the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, called for more solid European rescue funds for the eurozone. He emphasised that “more needs to be done in terms of firewalls for the eurozone”, and added, “the European Commission is appealing for the most credible firewalls possible. This is important to investor confidence in the eurozone's capacity to overcome the crisis.” He pointed out that the European Commission had made proposals on strengthening the European Financial Stability Facility, greater flexibility for these funds and earlier use of the European Stability Mechanism if it is possible. Nonetheless, the president of the Commission explained that the main question was of establishing whether eurozone member states were prepared to go forward.
The previous day the Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, had called for European Financial Stability Facility to be strengthened through the addition of several billion euro. With an intervention capacity of €250 billion, the EFSF is unable to help countries such as Italy or Spain - countries which are proving a worry to the markets. On Wednesday the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, had indicated that Germany was prepared to increase its participation in the fund “if the others do likewise” (see EUROPE 10529). (CG/transl.fl)