JAPAN: Euro zone Finance Ministers and the World Bank emphasise importance of the European Union, while Poland says it is unlikely to join the euro any time soon

Record ID: 466671

  • Title: JAPAN: Euro zone Finance Ministers and the World Bank emphasise importance of the European Union, while Poland says it is unlikely to join the euro any time soon
  • Date: 13th October 2012
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (OCTOBER 12, 2012) (REUTERS) OFFICIALS SEATED FOR DEBATE CAMERAMEN FILMING AUDIENCE SEATED OFFICIALS SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (English) POLISH CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR MAREK BELKA SAYING: "What would make euro attractive for Poland? It's not a 100 percent serious answer, but if we see that there are no more bets on the euro collapse, and when we see that (the)Spanish economy restarts growing, this is the first thing for us to start considering timelines and procedures, because then we can have faith that we would be entering something which will not disappear." DEBATE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF EUROPEAN FINANCE STABILITY FACILITY KLAUS REGLING SAYING: "The OMT (Outright Monetary Transactions) will already be activated if a country makes the request for some kind of ESM (European Stability Mechanism) programme. There are different possibilities, but it has to be an ESM programme that allows for the possibility of primary market purchases. And then that would be the basis for the ECB to act. So far no country has made such a request. If a request comes, we are ready." JOURNALIST ASKING QUESTION MODERATOR TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) PORTUGUESE FINANCE MINISTER VITOR GASPAR SAYING: "In Europe, the decision-making process is slow and cumbersome, but it's always delivered in the end. Europe, in a moment of crisis in more than five decades of the history of European integration, has always been able to come to the level required by any crisis that has appeared in the process of European integration. And as you know, there have been quite a few." JOURNALIST ASKING QUESTION AUDIENCE LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) VICE PRESIDENT FOR EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA AT THE WORLD BANK, PHILIPPE LE HOUERON, SAYING: "What we discovered going back in history is that what the European Union created is the most successful conversion machine - we call it - that has ever been invented... Between '87 and today, only 24 countries in the world went from middle-income to rich. Of the 24, half of them were not because they're ferocious tigers or they discovered oil like the other 12. The first 12 were because they joined the European Union. In history, we also have to look at the success." AUDIENCE APPLAUDING
  • Embargoed: 28th October 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA9WIIY9XQTAP3H5AB22IPF58T
  • Story Text: Finance Ministers in the euro zone and the World Bank spoke of the important of the European Union on Friday (October 12) in Tokyo, as Polish Central Bank Governor Marek Belka said his country was unlikely to join the euro in the near future.
    "What would make euro attractive for Poland? It's not a 100 percent serious answer, but if we see that there are no more bets on the euro collapse, and when we see that (the)Spanish economy restarts growing, this is the first thing for us to start considering timelines and procedures, because then we can have faith that we would be entering something which will not disappear," he said.
    Poland has so far been resilient to the global financial crisis, growing by 4.3 percent last year. It is the only European Union member to avoid recession since the 2008 Wall Street crash.
    Now though, the economy is slowing abruptly to 2.4 percent in the second quarter and some economists say it may face recession in early 2013.
    Spain's battle against sovereign debt crisis was among the main topics during the debate.
    The head of European Finance Stability Facility, Klaus Regling, said the IMF stands ready to support a European bailout for Spain.
    "The OMT (Outright Monetary Transactions) will already be activated if a country makes the request for some kind of ESM (European Stability Mechanism) programme. There are different possibilities, but it has to be an ESM programme that allows for the possibility of primary market purchases. And then that would be the basis for the ECB to act. So far no country has made such a request. If a request comes, we are ready," Regling said.
    Madrid is battling to keep borrowing costs at an affordable level against a backdrop of deep recession, rather than turning to its euro zone peers for a bailout programme.
    Panels also exchanged opinions about the causes of the European debt crisis and the fate of euro.
    Portuguese Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar was optimistic on the euro's future.
    "In Europe, the decision-making process is slow and cumbersome, but it's always delivered in the end. Europe, in a moment of crisis in more than five decades of the history of European integration, has always been able to come to the level required by any crisis that has appeared in the process of European integration. And as you know, there have been quite a few," Gaspar said.
    The World Bank representative at the debate also spoke about the importance of the EU.
    "What we discovered going back in history is that what the European Union created is the most successful conversion machine - we call it - that has ever been invented... Between 87 and today only 24 countries in the world went from middle-income to rich. Of the 24, half of them were not because they're ferocious tigers or they discovered oil like the other 12. The first 12 were because they joined the European Union. In history, we also have to look at the success," the Vice President for Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank Philippe Le Houerou said.
    The semi-annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank whichon Sunday (October 12) was attended by about 20,000 finance officials from around the world.
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