The head of the European Central Bank called on eurozone leaders on Monday to speak with one voice in the debt crisis, while defending German Chancellor Angela Merkel against accusations of foot-dragging.
'There is an absolute need to improve 'verbal discipline',' Jean-Claude Trichet said in an interview with the Financial Times Deutschland, a transcript of which was released by the ECB.
'The governments need to speak with one voice on such complex and sensitive issues as the crisis,' he said, while acknowledging that having 17 different governments made things 'complex.'
He said: 'But speaking with one voice in a period of crisis is of (the) essence.'
The Frenchman also defended Merkel against criticism that she, as the leader of Europe's biggest economy, had acted too slowly throughout the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis and had made matters worse.
'Not in the least,' Trichet said. 'I would see a discussion of this kind as being completely misplaced in the current situation.'
Merkel had said on Sunday that she would attend a summit of eurozone leaders in Brussels on Thursday — announced by EU president Herman Van Rompuy — to agree a new Greek rescue package only if there were a prospect of a concrete deal.
Source : New Age
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