EU's Rehn urges Greece to do more

01/03/2010

ATHENS, Greece -- The government must take further measures to deal with the budget crisis and reach debt reduction targets, EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said Monday (March 1st), following a meeting with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou in Athens. "We will continue to support the Greek authorities and the Greek people so as to bring the economy back to a sustainable path," Rehn said, urging the government to announce new steps "in the coming days". Papandreou reiterated that his country is ready to do "whatever is necessary" to fix the problem.

Separately, Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the Euro Group of finance ministers, said Greece should strengthen its budget-cutting measures or potentially face sanctions. In an interview with the Athens-based newspaper Eleftherotypia on Sunday, Juncker said "Greece should realise that taxpayers in Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg are not ready to fix mistakes in Greece's financial policy." (Reuters, Dow Jones - 01/03/10)

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