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Merkel sees 'change of thinking' in Greece

16 October 2012, 12:47 CET
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(BERLIN) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday said she saw a "change" in Greece's attitude towards reform as she praised painful efforts made in Athens and Spain to overcome the eurozone debt crisis.

Addressing business executives in a speech in Berlin, Merkel said the eurozone had "come a long way along this sometimes exhausting path" in overcoming the three-year crisis but warned "we are not yet at the end."

"We have seen in Spain the drive and commitment with which the Spanish government is working on improving its competitiveness," she said.

And she added: "You can say a lot about Greece, but an awful lot has been done there -- slower than we might have liked, maybe not as efficiently as we might have liked -- but something has changed in their way of thinking."

Merkel embarked on a day-long trip to Greece last Tuesday marked by violent protests against harsh austerity measures imposed on the debt-wracked country in return for billions of euros (dollars) in aid.

She has often stressed that she wants the country to remain in the eurozone but insists that Athens must carry out the reforms it has signed up to if it wants to continue receiving bailout cash.

Spain has introduced a raft of economic reforms, including a shake-up of labour laws and making banks bolster their balance sheets, amid speculation that Madrid will soon be forced into a full sovereign bailout.

While expressing optimism over the path ahead, Merkel also warned that there was no quick solution to the problems that have pitched many eurozone nations into recession.

"The eurozone crisis came about over several years and so it will not be solved with one measure, with one wave of the magic wand, but it will take years of long-term, systematic work," she said.

She urged other countries to bolster their competitiveness levels, saying Germany could not lower its own competitiveness to accommodate others.

"With different competitiveness levels, we cannot as a common currency resist external shocks," she cautioned.

Merkel said the topic of competitiveness would be a "core issue" at a meeting of EU leaders on Thursday and Friday in Brussels.

She also called for a "single European labour market," suggesting it should be made easier for jobless in southern Europe to fill employment gaps in Germany.


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