Thursday, October 6, 2011

German minister in mission to Athens

Financial Times
October 6, 2011

When Philipp Rösler, Germany’s economy minister and vice-chancellor, landed in Athens on Thursday with 60 German businessmen in tow, his Greek hosts might have been forgiven for confusion about his mission.

A month ago, he hit the headlines by insisting very publicly that talking about an “orderly insolvency” for Greece must not be taboo. His comments alarmed the markets, causing a renewed run on the euro and a further drop in the price of Greek bonds.

This week, he produced a two-page working paper that sketches out how the orderly restructuring of a eurozone country’s debt might work.

But yesterday Mr Rösler was adamant that his mission was to rescue Greece, not to bury the debt-strapped economy.

“In the spirit of solidarity, it’s the task of all Europeans to help Greece get back on its feet economically and we want to take German firms to Greece,” Mr Rösler told German TV on his departure, calling for “clear structural reforms” from Athens in return.

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