BRUSSELS - The chairman of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers voiced confidence on Friday that the Greek government would rein in public finances, saying the country faced no default risk.Speaking after a European Union summit, Jean-Claude Juncker also said the 27-country EU would keep the idea of a financial-transaction tax on the international agenda."The Greek authorities will take effective action. I am fully convinced Greece will return to the consolidation path. This is dramatically necessary," Juncker, Luxembourg's prime minister, told a news conference.He reiterated Greece faced no risk of bankruptcy despite a ballooning budget deficit and public debt."I have to say I don't see the risk of state default in Greece. I am a little bit furious that rumours are circulating, trying to have this state default risk appearing as a serious hypothesis," he said.He added Greece's new Socialist government, which plans to cut the budget deficit to 9.1 percent of gross domestic product in 2010 from the 12.7 percent expected this year, would need more fiscal consolidation."The 2010 budget is the first important step in the right direction, but other effective action needs to be taken," said Juncker, who chairs regular meetings of finance ministers from the 16 countries that use the euro single currency.On the tax on financial transactions, discussed at the summit but opposed by the United States, Juncker said the EU would keep the idea alive in international forums."We need to take all those potential taxation mechanisms under examination ... We do want to have this point on the international agenda and it will remain on the international agenda," he said."It would be wise to have this ... taxation mechanism on a worldwide scale. It seems that an exclusively European approach could ... harm a certain number of our financial centres."He added that the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, would prepare a report on the feasibility of such a tax.
BRUSSELS - The chairman of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers voiced confidence on Friday that the Greek government would rein in public finances, saying the country faced no default risk.
Speaking after a European Union summit, Jean-Claude Juncker also said the 27-country EU would keep the idea of a financial-transaction tax on the international agenda.
"The Greek authorities will take effective action. I am fully convinced Greece will return to the consolidation path. This is dramatically necessary," Juncker, Luxembourg's prime minister, told a news conference.
He reiterated Greece faced no risk of bankruptcy despite a ballooning budget deficit and public debt.
"I have to say I don't see the risk of state default in Greece. I am a little bit furious that rumours are circulating, trying to have this state default risk appearing as a serious hypothesis," he said.
He added Greece's new Socialist government, which plans to cut the budget deficit to 9.1 percent of gross domestic product in 2010 from the 12.7 percent expected this year, would need more fiscal consolidation.
"The 2010 budget is the first important step in the right direction, but other effective action needs to be taken," said Juncker, who chairs regular meetings of finance ministers from the 16 countries that use the euro single currency.
On the tax on financial transactions, discussed at the summit but opposed by the United States, Juncker said the EU would keep the idea alive in international forums.
"We need to take all those potential taxation mechanisms under examination ... We do want to have this point on the international agenda and it will remain on the international agenda," he said.
"It would be wise to have this ... taxation mechanism on a worldwide scale. It seems that an exclusively European approach could ... harm a certain number of our financial centres."
He added that the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, would prepare a report on the feasibility of such a tax.