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Vienna, 29 August 2012 : Fekter in favour of mechanism for excluding countries from Eurozone Fekter: “It will take time to implement”
Austrian Minister of Finance Dr. Maria Fekter believes that the EU needs a
mechanism by which it can, if necessary, exclude countries from the Eurozone:
“We need a vehicle that will enable us to shut a country out of the Eurozone if
it constantly creates financial burdens for the other member states.”
However, Dr Fekter does not think it realistic to expect such a mechanism to
be put in place within the next five years. She advocates facing facts on this
point: “I am familiar with the EU legislative process. First a convention will
be needed at the EU parliamentary level, then a treaty will have to be
negotiated, ratified and ultimately – in some countries – put to a referendum.
All of that will take time”.
“It is one thing for people to sit together over drinks in a pub and call for
Greece to be thrown out. However, we have to consider the knock-on effects. In
particular, the taxpayer would be left to foot the bill. That is why we have the
political will to keep the Eurozone together and force financially unstable
member states to carry through with their reforms”, Dr Fekter went on to
say.
If Greece needed only more time rather than more funding in order to carry
through with the necessary reforms, the Austrian Finance Minister would be
prepared to talk about granting a deferral. As to the question of a third aid
package for Greece, Dr Fekter stressed in closing: “We can’t be re-doing the
whole thing every three months. That is why we will putting great pressure on
the Greek government to rigorously implement the reforms from the second
package.”
