Steffen Kampeter HARDtalk


Steffen Kampeter

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situation. They have not yet fully have identified it as a terrorist

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attack. It is now time for HARDtalk. Welcome to HARDtalk. Angela Merkel

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is a politician caught between a rock and a hard place. In Germany,

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a new party accuses her of doing too much to keep alive the hated

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Euro currency. Other eurozone members say her government is doing

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not enough, fearful of those domestic critics ahead of the

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autumn's federal election. HARDtalk speaks to Germany's deputy finance

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minister Steffen Kampeter. Just how big a price is Germany prepared to

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pay to save the euro project, and Welcome to HARDtalk. How would you

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describe the state of the eurozone? De eurozone is more stable than it

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has been one year ago. We have the markets calming down, the political

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progress to reorganise the shape of the European Monetary Union in a

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way that means more stable activities, more supervision is

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under way. I am satisfied with what we have achieved but we have to go

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on. Yet you would except that fragility remains? Of course. If we

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would stop the reforming we have already been achieving and go on a

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different course, leaving the fiscal path, it would mean more

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uncertainty and more pressure on the European Monetary Affairs and

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economic development. We should not do that. The fragility remains but

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the political will to keep on his larger. Is that the case? You say

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that if you stick with the fist will pop which has been set out,

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you will see the benefit of that. Ireland is a prime example of doing

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the right thing, he said in March it is our view that the Irish

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example shows the way. But last week, Ireland asked for and got a

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seven-year extension to repayment of the bailout. But there is

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flexibility? Keeping on track does not mean you have to be inflexible.

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If the situation changes you have to react. The general tone is that

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we need more fiscal consolidation and we need more growth enhancing

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politics. There are proposals on the table and people are calling

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for the opposite, the European leaders and the European finance

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leaders across staying on track. That is what I'm expecting from

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them and what I would recommend. Yet your own boss, the finance

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minister said originally before this proposal was accepted, more

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time equals more money. They got seven years more time. That is more

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money. There is a shift going on, it is happening? I would see the

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Irish and the Portuguese story as it less or more successful stories.

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It was the case that Ireland needed some solidarity and they got it.

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Ireland has changed its economic behaviour and fiscal policies and

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the general tone of the economic debate. Now it gets the benefits

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that they will except the programme. The same I'm expecting from

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Portugal, they are re-entering the market and if I look to other

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places in Europe like the Spanish case, the spreadsheets for Spain a

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lower than I have been one year ago. That is why I say the situation is

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improving. It is still fragile but we are on the right direction?

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Sydney is fragile. It was found that there were financial

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imbalances in 13 member states and they were unbalances for Slovenia

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where they were considered excessive. The economic affairs

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commissioner said on the same day we have to be aware of these

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problems continue to take a toll on our economies. The commission added

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the weakness of economic activity and the fragile economic outlook

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may have aggravated the risks and the cross country spillover is?

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have a challenging economic situation not only within the

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eurozone but within the world economy. Nobody is denying that. If

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I take a sharp look on the programme countries, rebalancing

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has taken place. They have enhanced their competitiveness and reduced

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the deficit. This is what we asked them for. This does not mean the

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growth path we have for the world economy is satisfying everybody.

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This is something which is not related to the euro is a currency

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but to the world economy as a whole. Within the eurozone, you have

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talked about the countries who have already looked for a bail-out and

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got one, what about the other countries, are they doing enough to

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ensure the long-term sustainability of the eurozone? As I stated before,

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there is much more credibility in the will of the European states to

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keep the economic pressure on growth enhancing reform up. If we

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see the development over the past 12 months, we have established a

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new framework, not only for the economic policy but for the court

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nation of economic policies in general. This means that the growth

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perspective so will probably get better year by year as we going to

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these integrated policies. You will not receive an easy result after a

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few months, you will have to keep this -- stable politics. We do not

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want a fast movement on the left or right-hand side, just keep on track

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and then we will come to better developments? But momentum matters?

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Francois Hollande pledged at the time of his election that he would

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cut GDP to 3%, now they say, auditors that growth will be below

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the average. That seems impossible for France to achieve that? What

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should it do? It is not a problem that can be limited to France. If

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you look to the economic development in the UK will United

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States we have to have a dress with tailor-made programmes and policies

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Max's that we have to enhance our growth potential. Forgive me for

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interrupting, the reason I ask her about France is that France is in

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the eurozone and one of the important economies. You have no

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locus for the UK for US, but France to have influence over. Do you

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think they should cut more? We are on good speaking terms to the UK

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and United States in co-operation and co-ordinating economic policies

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as well. That is not just the German and French battle. Every

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country must look at its growth potential and do their homework. It

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is not the case for Germany to lecture anybody. He say it is not

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the case -- other countries have different challenge us. They will

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know it is time to act now. I have one to ask you about the German

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economy in a moment. And the implications for your export-led

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economy which has been hit by what has been happening in the eurozone.

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You say it is not a position of Germany to lecture, some people

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might say Jimmy does not want to offend France but it is happy to

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defend countries on the periphery of the eurozone. The Ku -- the

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Cypriot president said his country had been served poison? De eurozone

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policies are made by 17 Prior -- finance ministers. They have a

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common voice. Sometimes they do not sound that common, but this is not

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the German or French or Spanish politics. It is eurozone politics.

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They agree you anonymously. It is not just the way Germany does it,

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we feel it is the best way to go for the eurozone. You say that, but

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the IMF President said in an interview that the reality of is

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that the largest country, the leader of the country's calls the

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tune. It sets the time and calls the shots. That is the reality in

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the eurozone? You are the largest and most powerful economy? You call

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the shots? Germany is contributing a very big proportion of solidarity

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does not mean we are the only one to run the game. We have co-

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operated with her to find a common ground amongst the 70 members of

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the eurozone, we are now doing it with the French and the actual

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Spanish and the Italian government. It is a misinterpretation that this

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chorus has only one voice. It has 17 forces. Germany is aware we are

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a strong voice in this course but not the only one. You made us think

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you are a strong voice, it is clear that Germany wants to impose its

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views on the pupils of southern Europe. The toughest decision was

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that for Cyprus according to the Greek Foreign Minister talking on

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Greek television at the end of March. It was a ruthless decision

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to wreck the finance system of the country which have terrible

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consequences. He laid the fault at the door of Germany? It is not a

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Germany point of view but that view of the European tax player. We need

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some solidity and exchange. This is view. I do not see that there is

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one European leader that is addressing his parliament and says,

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I invest my people's money in another country and I do not get

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anything out of it, including a Let us talk about what Germany gets

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out of bed and the state of your economy at the moment. You expect

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this to continue in 2013? I would love to have stronger growth in

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Germany but at the moment, we have not a very growing world economy.

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We have unstable internal demand at the moment and we are a challenge

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because some of our partners in the world are not as stable as farce. -

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- as us. Germany has to go on and stabilise internal demand and

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stabilised the world economy by growing imports. Our import high at

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the moment is stabilising the economy is of a partner countries.

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The US Treasury Secretary was in Berlin a week ago and hinted that

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it would be helpful that if countries to have the capacity

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would implement policies to encourage a bit more domestic

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consumer demand. We do what we can. Wage bargaining is not a state

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activity in Germany. If you look at the latest wage bargaining results,

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you see that we had a growing contribution to private demand. If

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you look at the West, I do not see a growing deficit spending there. -

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- if you look at the US. Everyone is on a different wage. Then no-one

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is spending more than they can at the moment. On a question of what

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is happening to how all your neighbours affects the German

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economy. German exports fell in February but wouldn't it be known

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eurozone countries, they grew. The concern ought to be for your

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country that in a sense, the policies that you are driving in

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those parts of the eurozone that are struggling are actually hurting

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your own country. It is not like you describe it. We are not

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intending to hurt anybody. Our economic model is based on

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innovation and competitiveness. We are delivering goods and services

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all over the world. If we have good economic circumstances, our

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companies are going quite well. In the emerging countries, the

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economic development is positive. If we have slow-growth within the

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EU, we cannot export as much as we would like. This has nothing to do

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-- this is nothing that we're trying to tease or penalise anyone.

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based economy but we are competing with other countries and we are

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doing quite well. It is doubling to blame us for. It is not a question

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of blame at but a question of saying that is there not some

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enlightened self-interest for Germany in encouraging growth in

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the neighbouring countries rather than pursuing, so relentlessly, the

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theme of austerity? A day to see a contradiction between the

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consolidation path and the growth path. You cannot buy growth.

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Disillusion has led to the state crisis which we are facing at the

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moment. What we do at the moment is regain trust that growth by fiscal

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consolidation and on the supply side, we have to do labour-market

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reforms, open markets for Trade, try to stabilise the supply-side

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potential. I do not see the alternative on the one hand of

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ideological concepts of austerity and on the other of Britain have

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images. The German. Did you eat much more pragmatic to consolidate

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and to invest in growth. Some observers wonder where you could

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narrow the gap in the eurozone by the introduction of euro bonds. But

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the debt of any individual are underpinned the surpluses of any

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other member country. There is that people promise that if they hit

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trouble, they will be redeemed. Let me put what non blogger said a few

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weeks ago. He said that the danger of default would disappear as

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wooden bricks premiums. Bank balance sheets would receive a

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boost as we have here in debt and budgets. They would not rule in

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Germany's credit-rating but rather compare favourably with the bonds

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of the West, the UK, and Japan. -- of the US. I don't know whether a

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speculator is a good adviser for economic policies. The focus should

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be for the pound which was damaged by the activities... This is not to

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be played out in his interview. I would keep the focus that the

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interest rates increase were too low to keep pressure on economic

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reform. The concept of Euro bonds is taking interest rates will and

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 331 seconds

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without conditionality. This is the Whether we are challenged by a new

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party does not change our position. We are always challenging democracy.

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This is nothing new. Left wing of centre-right competitors. What

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about the challenge outside of Germany?? E said at the start of

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the interview that things have calmed down but there was a hiatus.

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The markets know that you cannot change policy until you're safely

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re-elected. Once you are safely re- elected, they will be able to

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challenge? We will not change our goals. If you see the majorities,

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Angela Merkel always gets for European politics, it shows that we

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have and 80% to 90% approval rating in the German parliament. It is

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mostly beyond 90%. What about the market's? With in any election,

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there will be no change in politics. What about the market's? Will they

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tolerate that? The markets have calmed down. I see no policy change.

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