The following are comments by euro zone finance ministers and other officials in connection with their regular meeting in Brussels on Monday.BELGIAN FINANCE MINISTER DIDIER REYNDERS"The euro, it is true, is suffering from the situation in the southern European countries.""It is not the level of the euro that is worrying, it is the situation of the public finances of countries in the euro zone."On Spain/Portugal:"In those countries, we must of course return to budget equilibrium."GERMAN FINANCE MINISTER WOLFGANG SCHAEUBLE"Our decisions from (two) Sundays ago have defused the crisis.""We must overcome the causes (of the crisis), that means we must reduce deficits, we must strengthen the Stability and Growth Pact, and we must discuss how to strengthen growth.""We must go beyond the stage of announcements, declarations of intent and testing, and implement facts. It must be made clear that policymakers set the rules, not the markets."AUSTRIAN FINANCE MINISTER JOSEF PROELLOn euro zone stability mechanism:"I think that what we decided one week ago ... goes in the right direction because we see that now the spreads for Greece have reduced by more than a half.""It is necessary from our point of view if we have to reduce the deficit or the debt, that we find solutions that do not destroy the growth, the first signals of growth ... A compromise should be found in all different countries in the European Union. That's our challenge for the next month."EUROGROUP CHAIRMAN JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER"I'm not worried as far as the euro exchange rate is concerned. I'm worried as far as the fall is concerned."SPAIN ECONOMY MINISTER ELENA SALGADOOn euro zone stability mechanism:"I think the plan we approved last week is sufficient, I think it's credible and I think financial markets are in a state of high volatility and we need to accept that that's the way it is.""We need to work on the Stability and Growth Pact, on the economic task force, we need to coordinate our economic policies and show a clear willingness to reduce deficits and the public debt."FINNISH FINANCE MINISTER JYRKI KATAINENOn public finances:"The goal is the same for everybody.""Limits or rules must be in the constitution, it's the way to do things. It's really ambitious. But I'm not that sure if everybody is ready to do the same. But the overall law is the same for everybody. For instance, in our case, in the Finnish case, we should get rid of the deficit, or we should have a surplus.""Constitutional limits are only an instrument, we shouldn't pay too much attention to instruments. But it's a good start for the debate. A few months ago I heard that there were a few countries that were thinking something similar as they have done in Germany."We have some time to put our public finances in order again. The problems are still there and everybody knows what the problem is, it's huge debt in the national context ... and now hopefully we have bought some time to put things in order again."News posted by www.newsinfoline.com
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