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Vienna, 08 October 2012 : Fekter welcomes entry into force of the ESM: "We are on the right path." Fekter: "No cause for celebration, however, as we are still in the middle of stabilising the Eurozone."
Minister of
Finance Dr. Maria Fekter sees the ESM as a key crisis management tool:
"Europe has found a mechanism that also enables it to manage problems at
the country level."
Entry into force of the ESM lays a foundation for the continued future
existence of the Economic and Monetary Union. "We like our currency, the
euro. In the future, the European Central Bank will protect not only the euro,
but the Eurozone as well", continued the Minister.
According to Fekter, however, a great deal of work still needs to be done;
country budgets have to be consolidated. "We also know, however, that we
have accomplished a great deal already. A number of European countries now have
primary surpluses and have made at least a reasonable start on handling their
budgets", stated the Finance Minister optimistically.
When asked whether EUR 500 billion would be sufficient for the ESM, Fektor
answered: "Today we will approve a transfer of funds from the EFSF to the
ESM, when the EFSF expires next July. This will give us a total of precisely
EUR 700 billion, no more and no less." In any case, the starting signal
given by the Board of Governors and the meeting of the Board of Directors mean
that the ESM is ready for action.
If Cyprus submits a request for assistance, it could already be provided by the
ESM. "A number of discussions are currently taking place with respect to
Cyprus and, potentially, Slovenia. Spain has only submitted a request for bank
assistance, and was already provided EUR 100 billion in July. But we expect to
learn today that Spain needs considerably less and the 100 billion will not be
fully used. Spain has made no requests other than this to date."
"Although we are not entirely out of the problem zone yet, we are a great
deal closer to achieving stability", stated Fekter with respect to the
Eurozone. She feels that systematic deficit reduction must continue in the
future. "We have to ensure the debt doesn't grow until we are over our
heads in Europe, but is instead steadily reduced. By instituting a debt limit
and following a path of consolidation until 2016, Austria has already started
on the right path", concluded Fekter..