Monti slams northern Europe for debt costs

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France - Agence France-Presse

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Francois Hollande react after a speech in front of Reims cathedral, in Reims, eastern France. AP Photo

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti yesterday slammed unnamed EU states for undermining the “credibility” of the eurozone and urged rapid action on an agreed strategy for resolving the debt crisis.

After a new surge in borrowing rates for Italy and Spain, Monti denounced some “northern” countries in an apparent reference to Finland and The Netherlands which publicly questioned some decisions reached at last month’s EU summit.

Monti told reporters on the sidelines of an economic conference in this southern French town that he wanted the Eurogroup to effect the decisions “rapidly in operational terms.”

The Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers will meet in Brussels today and again on July 20, following the watershed EU summit that promised fresh capital for Spain’s struggling banks, a European bank union to keep lenders in line and making it easier for the bloc’s new bailout fund to help states in trouble.
French Foreign Minister Pierre Moscovici said yesterday there will the July 20 meeting will aim at tackling the debt crisis threatening the single currency area.

He said a key meeting of eurozone finance ministers today will “translate into action” earlier decisions, and “there will be another one in July, on July 20 I think,” he told reporters.

The June 28-29 EU summit was hailed as a breakthrough, promising fresh capital for Spain’s struggling banks, a European bank union to keep the lenders in line and making it easier for the bloc’s new bailout fund to help states in trouble.