Eurozone leaders have put their economy on “the right road” to crisis recovery, but must be kept under pressure to implement the bail-out deal, George Osborne told MPs on Thursday
Eurozone leaders have put their economy on “the right road” to crisis recovery, but must be kept under pressure to implement the bail-out deal, George Osborne told MPs on Thursday.
Addressing the House of Commons the morning after an 11-hour eurozone summit – which agreed an increase to the firepower of the main bail-out fund and a 50 per cent write-off of Greek debt – the chancellor said that “very good progress” had been made.
“The deal put together is much better than was expected yesterday [Wednesday] afternoon,” Mr Osborne said, adding that Britain must “keep up the pressure to get the details completed”.
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However, the chancellor also stressed that the UK would not contribute to the bail-out and that the International Monetary Fund should not make donations to the fund either.
“We are only prepared to see an increase in the resources that the IMF makes available to all countries of the world, we would not be prepared to see IMF resources reserved only for use by the eurozone,” he said.
Mr Osborne then summarised the UK’s position: “An active member of the IMF, yes. Support for the IMF helping with advice and technical support, yes. But the IMF contributing money to the eurozone bail-out fund, no; Britain contributing money to the eurozone bail-out fund, no.”
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