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The European Union made clear on Thursday it would not abandon Greece and let Athens’ mounting debt crisis jeopardise the eurozone, even as Germany and France played down suggestions they had already formulated an emergency rescue plan.
“It’s quite clear that economic policies are not just a matter of national concern but European concern,” José Manuel Barroso, European Commission president, told reporters in Brussels.
According to high-level EU officials, Greece would in the last resort receive emergency support in an operation involving eurozone governments and the Commission but not the International Monetary Fund.
Eurozone countries and EU authorities are reluctant to spell out how they would assist Greece, for fear that it would relax pressure on Athens to attack its problems and unsettle rattled financial markets.
The immediate priority is for Athens to demonstrate that it is serious about cutting public expenditure, improving tax collection, publishing reliable financial statistics and tackling corruption, the officials said.
“Greece has to sort this out itself. That is the issue,” a French official said.
Mr Barroso said “the best way to help Greece is for Greece to respect its obligations under the stability and growth pact”, a reference to the EU’s fiscal rules.
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