Trichet: Governments Need to Be Flexible

Wall Street Journal
December 3, 2010

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet called on governments to do what it takes to get the euro zone out of its current debt problems, by strengthening the bloc's fiscal discipline and ramping up financial support if needed.

"We are certainly encouraging governments to go as far as possible in being commensurate to the challenges. This is true in all domains—I would say quantitative and qualitative flexibility in their capacity to contribute to ensuring financial stability is important," Mr. Trichet said at a conference in Paris on Friday.

He was responding to a question about the need for governments to increase the size of the €750 billion ($991.8 billion) joint European Union/International Monetary Fund facility put in place for financially distressed euro-zone members in the wake of the Greek debt crisis.

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