Eurozone crisis: time to find a solution is short, says Osborne

Chancellor urges European colleagues to show they ‘recognise gravity of situation’ before talks in Poland The chancellor, George Osborne, has warned that “time is short” for finding a solution to the eurozone crisis and called on European leaders to send a “clear signal” that they are dealing with it. Osborne was speaking at the Daily Telegraph’s Festival of Business event in Manchester on Friday before getting on a plane to join other European finance ministers in the Polish city of Wroclaw amid growing concern over the crisis. In an indication of the seriousness of the situation, the US treasury secretary, Tim Geithnerin, will also be attending the talks. Osborne called for a “much better international response”, saying: “I will be looking for my European colleagues to send a clear signal that they truly recognise the gravity of the situation and that they are dealing with it.” The chancellor said Britain should not engage in “schadenfreude” over the problems of its European neighbours in the eurozone, saying the fact that Britain’s two biggest export markets “have all but stopped growing” was hitting global confidence and having an impact on UK shores. “A successful euro is massively in our interest,” he said as he warned that a “lack of belief in the ability of political systems in the eurozone and in North America to respond” was worsening the crisis. “Time is short and the eurozone must now implement, as quickly as possible, their 21 July agreement, resolve the uncertainty with respect to Greece, specify how they intend to fulfil the commitment made at last week’s G7 meeting to take all necessary actions to ensure the resilience of banking systems and financial markets. Crucially, my European colleagues need to accept the remorseless logic of monetary union that leads from a single currency to greater fiscal integration.” He said excessive debt across the world was the “root cause” of worsening economic situations, adding: “What started as a debt crisis in the banking sector in 2008 has now turned into a wider crisis of sovereign, banking and private sector debt. And Britain cannot blame the rest of the world for these debts, for we were one of the biggest contributors to them.” He said his “decisive action” to introduce an emergency budget last summer “on our own terms” had put the UK “ahead of the curve” in the challenging economic times. Osborne also used his speech to court business leaders to help the government face down “the forces of stagnation” resisting reforms he said were necessary to allow businesses to generate growth. Telling the audience they were the “real engine of growth”, he said the government was working “flat out to help your businesses not only survive but thrive”. But he claimed that while the government was doing all it could to help the sector succeed, including reducing business taxes and “burdensome red tape”, special interest groups were trying to prevent ministers from pushing through changes designed to aid recovery. Citing the controversy over proposals to shake up planning legislation, Osborne said the presumption in favour of “sustainable development”, which could help businesses and create jobs, had “even been opposed by the Telegraph”. He said he wanted the business community to give “loud and clear support” for proposals to reduce more than 1,000 pages of planning regulations to 50 to make it easier for them to develop their businesses. On the growing lobby opposing some of the planning reforms, which includes some of his Conservative colleagues, he said: “Don’t underestimate our determination to win this argument.” ; George Osborne Economic policy European debt crisis European banks Economics Euro European Union Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 16, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.