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A European Union summit ended early Thursday with a warning toGreece that it will have to stick to its bailout terms if it wantsto stay in the eurozone, but failed to resolve Franco—Germandifferences over the issue of eurobonds. "We want Greece to remain in the euro area while respectingits commitments," EU President Herman Van Rompuy said afterdiscussions which started Wednesday evening and dragged on forabout five and a half hours. Athens has been asked to pursue tough economic reforms and budgetcuts in return for the 173—billion—euro(218—billion—dollar) bailout it was granted in March.But if anti—austerity parties prevail in elections nextmonth, the deal is likely to be broken. To sweeten the pill, German Chancellor Angela Merkel raised thepossibility of quicker access to EU regional funds. "So it isa positive message, but Greece would have to meet itsobligations," she insisted. Asked whether the EU was readying contingency plans in case Greecewere to leave the euro, Eurogroup president and Luxembourg premierJean—Claude Juncker said, "We have to consider allkinds of events, but our working assumption is that Greece willstay." On Wednesday, the Bundesbank called developments inGreece "extremely worrying," while German weekly DieZeit reported that the European Central Bank (ECB) had set up acrisis team to prepare for a Greek exit. The ECB refused tocomment. Meanwhile, Van Rompuy predicted that reconciling opposite points ofview on eurobonds — the joint issuance of eurozone sovereigndebt "will take time." French President FrancoisHollande said he was "not alone" in defending them.Earlier, he argued it was unfair for Spain or Italy to pay 6 percent interest on their bonds while Germany's yield ontwo—year debt issuances reached a low of 0.07 per cent onWednesday. But Merkel rejected the idea. "I believe eurobonds do notcontribute to accelerating growth," she said on arrival inBrussels. After the summit, she told reporters leaders had "a verybalanced and sophisticated discussion." No breakthroughs areexpected soon. "Nobody was asking for an immediate introduction of all thisstuff," Van Rompuy said, classifying eurobonds as part of a"longer—term project of deepening the monetary andeconomic union," on which he would report in June. Eurobonds would make debt servicing more expensive for Berlin andcheaper for Madrid and Rome. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told Hamburg—basedNDR public radio that this "would not encourage financialdiscipline, but exactly the opposite, and we've had enough ofthe opposite." But several economists argue that Germany— the strongest eurozone economy — needs to pay a priceto show it is committed to the single currency, currentlythreatened by and fears of debt crisis contagion to Spain, as wellas Greek exit talk. In pre—summit talks with Spanish Prime Minister MarianoRajoy, Hollande also hiked the pressure on the ECB, whose presidentMario Draghi attended the summit. The French president called formore cheap loans to eurozone banks. Calls have multiplied — including from the InternationalMonetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment — for a eurozone action plan on banks, as lenderstotter in Greece and Spain. Germany has ruled out using the eurozone bailout fund to rescuebanks, and Rajoy reiterated he does not need outside help."The (Spanish) government does not have any interest and doesnot want to use funds from the EU or any other organization,"he said. Meanwhile, talks on euro—wide deposit guarantees and bankresolution schemes went nowhere, despite Hollande'sinsistence. Nor does Berlin seem amenable to the idea of helpingGreece or Spain by giving them more time to meet EU deficittargets. Germany prefers fiscal prudence, coupled with structural reforms. It is also championing the fiscal compact, a European budgetdiscipline treaty which newly—elected Hollande campaignedagainst. French sources said ratification of the pact would be kept on ice"until there are enough (EU) growth instruments," suchas a eurobonds "roadmap" and a financial transactiontax, which Berlin backs but is opposed by Britain. The Eurogroup presidency is another possible bargaining chip. Schaeuble is the frontrunner to replace Juncker, but Frenchofficials have suggested he should give up his current job if hewants the post. "Tonight's meeting was about putting pressure, focusingminds and clearing the air," Van Rompuy said. Concretepro—growth measures — including a deal to boostEuropean Investment Bank resources — are expected to beapproved at the EU's next summit, on June 28—29. I am an expert from diamond-sawblade.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Diamond Reciprocating Saw Blade , Gang Rip Saw Blades, Diamond Scroll Saw Blade,and more.
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