G20 summit to focus on EU debt woes

By Liu Linlin Source:Global Times Published: 2012-6-15 1:15:02

The upcoming G20 summit will see the leaders of the world's major economies pursued by Europe's debt storm all the way to Mexico, during which the European countries are expected to reach a consensus on addressing the crisis.

European Union (EU) chiefs, in particular Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, will once again come under pressure to find a way to stabilize the eurozone's finance and avoid the bloc's collapse.

The debt woes will overshadow all other topics and all eyes will be on Germany as Europe's biggest economy, Merkel told lawmakers ahead of the two-day gathering of G20 leaders in Los Cabos starting Monday.

She added that the country's power is not unlimited, AFP reported.

"The EU wants the debt crisis issue to dominate the summit so that they can get the international community to inject money and support into the region," Cui Hongjian, director of the department of EU Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times.

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, warned this week that Europe has only three months to come up with a convincing strategy to save the euro from a messy break-up, according to AFP.

Counting on G20 to offer a solution to the current crisis is not realistic, as the union will need to unify their finances and banking systems to find a way out, Ding Yifan, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council, told the Global Times.

Spain's borrowing rates have hit a high never seen since the country joined the euro in 1999 after a credit ratings agency downgraded the country's ability to pay its debt.

European leaders have a bottom line - maintain the eurozone's integrity and help Greece out of crisis first - so that they can have the energy to deal with other problems, Cui said, adding that political divergence is the biggest obstacle to a solution.

France's new center-left President Francois Hollande has led efforts to forge a new growth initiative for the bloc's ailing nations, which has been embraced by Germany's center-right government in principle.

Merkel, however, has ruled out using fresh money, insisting instead on reforms and a repackaging of existing EU funds.

China suggests the summit take account of the overall global economic recovery situation and support eurozone countries to take effective measures to overcome their difficulties and analysts considered it a good opportunity to invest in Europe.

"The Greek debt crisis is essentially the EU's internal affair, but if the crisis endangers international economic and financial stability, the international community should pay attention to it and offer help to Greece," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said Wednesday.

"Europe needs economic growth to revive its economy and investing in the EU is an option," Ding said.

He noted that China has already increased cooperation with European nations and purchases of EU debts but the benefits still have room to grow, making it a good time to continue investing.

Agreeing that helping rein in the EU debt crisis would help China, Cui said that China also needs an emergency plan to cope with the worsening situation in the continent.

"As China's second largest trade partner, the crisis has hurt China's exports and to secure future investment, we need to watch closely how the situation develops and shift investments to avoid losses," Cui said.



Posted in: Europe

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