Strasbourg, 14/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 14 February in Strasbourg, French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean Leonetti argued that the Greek problem was not insurmountable for either the Greeks themselves or for Europe and he stated France was not in favour of Greece leaving the euro. He repeated that, “if it were France or Italy that had a problem, this may become insurmountable for the euro and the euro zone but Greece is not an insurmountable challenge”. He indicated that the EU would not leave Greece to go bankrupt or leave the euro because that was, “neither in Europe's interest nor in the interest of the Greek people”. “The EU does not want to punish the Greek people but help them overcome a major crisis. (...) It is not true to say that the EU is making Greece suffer, it is the situation that is making the country suffer”. He explained that he was, “well aware of the sacrifice of the Greek people” and underlined the courage of its parliament for having voted for the austerity plan.
The Franco-German duo is an indispensable driving force. The minister also defended the Franco-German duo and posed the question of what would have happened if “France and Germany had not got moving during the first crisis in 2008 during the creation of the stability fund?” It was, he said, a “key driving force”. According to him, “Europe's history is based on Franco-German initiatives but it is not exclusively made up of this”. He added that the Franco German duo, “is the necessary condition but it is not enough on its own”. He explained that, “if there is no Franco-German initiative, Europe does not move forward. If there were only Franco-German decisions, Europe would not move forward. The strategy is always the same, Franco-German strategies draw the others and then partnership and dialogue with all the different countries, including the smallest ones”.
Triple-A. The minister also commented on the risk of Moody's removing the Triple A rating from France. He said: “Let's not go over the top. It is not completely abnormal that there is a certain political uncertainty given the important elections around the corner. (…) These results should neither be greeted with indifference or alarmism”. (CG/transl.fl)