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| Europe |
| Sarkozy threatened to quit euro in showdown with Germany over Greece |
| 2010-05-14 |
| FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy has threatened to pull his country out of the euro currency group to force Germany to help Greece with its debt crisis, El Pais newspaper reported, quoting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Mr Sarkozy made the threat at a Brussels summit of EU leaders last Friday that sealed a rescue package, Zapatero told a meeting with leaders of his Socialist Party on Wednesday, the newspaper reported today. Germany, Europe's biggest economy, has been the most reluctant euro nation to help the Greek government. However, the French President demanded "a commitment by everyone, for everyone to help Greece, each according to his means or France would reexamine its situation in the euro," Mr Zapatero was quoted as saying. "Sarkozy banged his fist on the table and threatened to withdraw from the euro, which twisted the arm of Angela Merkel," the German chancellor, a Socialist official who heard Zapatero's account was quoted as saying. The Brussels summit finally agreed a €110 billion ($154.02 billion) three-year package of loans and credit guarantees for Greece, which had risked defaulting on its huge debts. "France, Italy and Spain put up a common front against Germany and Sarkozy went so far as to threaten to break the traditional Franco-German axis," according to another person at the meeting. France and Germany are traditionally considered the central motor of EU initiatives. Spain and Portugal also face major debt problems and Mr Zapatero announced new austerity measures on Wednesday. El Pais said the Spanish leader has used increasingly dramatic rhetoric in recent days to convince his party of the gravity of the crisis facing the euro. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #9 I don't know about the folks up north, but I can probably tell you what the people down in Bavaria think of the concept of the French pulling out, wahhahahahaha. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-05-14 17:44 |
| #8 Germans should be honored to pay. From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs. |
| Posted by: gromky 2010-05-14 14:53 |
| #7 FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy has threatened to pull his country out of the euro currency group to force Germany to help Greece with its debt crisis... Angela Merkel should have said, "Pull my finger Sarky" |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-05-14 12:36 |
| #6 Not the EU. But the EU needs sweeping democratic reforms, and the EU Commission needs to be abolished. This is not an elected entity but influences our daily life more than national parliaments. This must end. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2010-05-14 12:12 |
| #5 It would be in Germany's best interest to leave the EU. They are getting dragged down with the dregs. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2010-05-14 12:09 |
| #4 Bernardz... unfortunately no. Nobody is bailing out Greece (or any other country) but once again banks. I wonder how much longer the people will suffer being robbed blind this way. "Saving the Euro" with hundreds of billions? What for? |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2010-05-14 11:57 |
| #3 I was against the Euro, when it was forced upon us without any democratic controls. It was the price Germany had to pay to France for its reunification. The Euro never made sense economically because the economies of the countries were so different. But Sarkozy threatening to leave the eurozone? Good riddance. We can have the Deutsche Mark back in no time, thank you very much. Every promise, every guarantee about the euro has been broken. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2010-05-14 11:53 |
| #2 I wonder why Merkel did not accept Sarkozy offer. A large part of Greece problem is the euro. If the euro goes, Greece can devalue her currency. Germany does not have to pay anything. |
| Posted by: Bernardz 2010-05-14 10:21 |
| #1 I imagine the typical German on the street is fuming about this for several reasons. The first is that France gets a huge chunk of the EU budget as farm subsidies. The second is that, as such, it was a pathetic threat, and Merkel buckled under that little bit of pressure. I could imagine a similar situation in the US were say, Obama to propose a 10% federal tax increase, solely to pay Mexican companies to hire more Mexicans. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-05-14 09:43 |