Saturday, 22 October 2011
"Europe is moving resolutely towards an economic government of the eurozone," French Prime Minister Francois Fillon told business executives at a seminar in Seoul, South Korea, on Friday, in a bid to dispel fears that the eurozone debt crisis will persist.
Fillon said an emergency EU summit, planned for Sunday, would be a "moment of truth" for the bloc as it pushes for transparency and fiscal governance to prevent the Greek debt crisis from spreading.
"Today Europe is faced with a new challenge. As she has always done in the past, she will overcome the tests and emerge strengthened," Fillon stressed.
However, deep rifts between France and Germany - the eurozone's two strongest economies - over how to solve the debt crisis have forced the 17-nation zone to call a fresh summit next Wednesday - even before the "decisive" Sunday talks.
"We have made enormous progress but not enough to take final decisions on [Sunday]," said Steffen Seibert, spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel.
NEW DELHI: With NATO operations in Libya coming to an end with the killing of Muammar Gaddafi, France on Friday said Syria could be the next target as it pushed for UN taking the "responsibilities" and sanction the "bloody repression".
However, France did not intend to launch unilateral military action against Syria but strictly follow international law in this regard, French foreign minister Alain Juppe said.
With the death of Gaddafi, NATO operations in Libya can be considered over and the new government there was in control of the entire country, Juppe said here.
"Turning to Syria, given the crimes against humanity committed by the Gaddafi regime, France is asking the UN Security Council to assume its responsibilities and sanction the bloody repression," he said in a speech at the French Embassy here.
"I hope we will soon reach an agreement on multilateral action that can step up pressure on the Syrian regime," Juppe said.
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