Brussels, 30/08/2012 (Agence Europe) - France accepts the idea of going one step further in the construction of Europe as long as this is accompanied by greater solidarity. French Minister for the Economy Pierre Moscovici , who was speaking during an interview that appeared on Thursday 30 August in the French economic daily Les Echos, said (our translation): “We are ready to go further with European construction as long as each stage of integration corresponds to a dimension of solidarity. That is why we shall not give up the idea, in time, of pooling public debts”. He spoke of “four requirements” for the future of the eurozone, namely: “integrity, sustainability, stability and growth”. According to the minister, who is to be in Athens on Thursday 13 September, Greece will keep its place within the eurozone as long as it makes the necessary effort. Set in place early this week, the Franco-German working group will be tasked with working on the sovereign debt crisis in order, inter alia, to “resolve the difficulties of Greece, Spain and Cyprus” (see EUROPE 10675). Work will also be initiated in other areas, such as “single banking supervision” and “fiscal and social harmonisation”, to improve “economic governance” without changing the treaties.
European Central Bank (ECB). Early August, the ECB announced that non-conventional measures would be reactivated for renewal of the debt purchase plan in eurozone countries in difficulty on condition that the European rescue funds are deployed beforehand (see EUROPE 10669). It will set out the terms and conditions on Thursday 6 September. Moscovici believes that the ECB has given rise to the hope that there will be a permanent solution to the difficulties of the eurozone insofar as survival of single currency is one of the ECB's missions. He went on to speak of “the political reticence to be overcome” to finalise possible intervention by European rescue funds with a view to bringing down the cost of refinancing countries such as Spain or Italy.
Finally, it was out of the question for the minister to question the objective of bringing the French public deficit down below the 3% of GDP mark by 2013. Moscovici considers the effort required is “manageable” despite growth that is below that forecast (stagnation during the first half of 2012). He makes sticking to that objective a matter on which the credibility of the French State depends. (MB/transl.jl)