BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)–Euro-zone countries must act to bring down borrowing costs and improve its ability to deal with contagion if it is to survive the ongoing crisis, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn said Thursday.
“We need both a genuine stability culture in the euro zone and its member states, and a much upgraded capacity to contain contagion and reduce borrowing costs for its members,” Rehn said during a speech at an economic forum in Brussels, adding that “this is the case if we want to avoid a disintegration of the euro zone and instead make the euro survive and succeed for the sake of its member states.”
Assessing the progress made over the last two years in the euro-area to stem the relentless crisis that has been battering member states and their banks, Rehn said they it had been “all in all… solid but uneven and seemingly insufficient.”
-By Matina Stevis, Dow Jones Newswires, 00 32 2741 1483;
matina.stevis@dowjones.com @MatinaStevis
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