Czech PM slams EU action on financial crisis: report
(PRAGUE) - The European Union is showing total inability to tackle the current situation on financial markets in a rational way, Czech media quoted Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek as saying Thursday.
Topolanek said the EU was violating its own Stability and Growth Pact, and that he was ready to veto any proposals "going beyond the framework of common sense and the situation as such" at the EU summit in Brussels on October 15, daily Lidove noviny wrote Thursday.
The prime minister also said full guarantees for bank deposits, offered by some EU countries such as Czech neighbours Slovakia and Austria, only resulted in money moving and boosting liquidity in one country at the expense of another.
"If we had the euro, we would be in this trouble just like everybody else. So thank God for the koruna," Topolanek said, calling the full guarantees "shameless."
His centre-right coalition has been putting off a decision on the euro entry date since it came to power in January 2007 despite pressure from local companies and businessmen.
The Czech Republic will take over the EU's rotating presidency from France on January 1.
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