Germany wary of increasing the EU rescue fund
17 Jan 2011
European heavy weight Germany has expressed its unhappiness over European Union's move to increase the size of the rescue fund ahead of a eurozone finance ministers meet today.
The European Commission (EC) wants to boost the 440 billion euro ($590 billion) European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) in a bid to reassure financial markets about the integrity of the eurozone, on the back drop of analysts saying that the fund would be too little to rescue Spain and Portugal from their financial woes.
''A heated discussion is not necessary,'' said German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble in an interview with German radio Deutschlandfunk today morning, adding that it was more important for highly-indebted countries to work at solving their own problems.
European Commissioner Michael Barnier said on Friday that the European bloc has agreed in principle to boost the support mechanisms for cash-strapped member states.
''The position of the EU is clear and there has been a decision to boost support mechanisms. The specifics of this will be decided by finance ministers,'' Barnier was speaking at a press conference after meeting with Greek leaders (See: EU to consider boosting rescue fund).
Last week EC President Jose Manuel Barroso also urged the European heads of government to decide on increasing the EFSF as early as their next meeting on 4 February (See: EU to consider boosting rescue fund).
