Germany firm on euro: MP
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Senior German parliamentarian Juergen Koppelin believes his country will continue to be committed to the euro as well as the European Union despite the doubts and dissatisfaction expressed by some compatriots.
Koppelin, vice president of the Bundestag’s Thai-German Friendship Group, said yesterday during a brief visit to Thailand that the EU’s southern states such as Greece and Cyprus must face up to corruption and engage in fiscal reforms where they will no longer borrow more than they can repay.
Koppelin, a senior MP from the Free Democratic Party, a junior partner in the government coalition, said many young people from Spain and Portugal had dropped out of school to move to Germany in search of work while the German government tries to assist them in whatever way possible.
As much as half of the young generation in some of these countries are unemployed and pose a big challenge to the EU, he said.
Corruption is one of the factors bringing about financial and economic crises in these countries, he said.
For example, in one of these EU member states patients have to bribe public hospitals to get prompt treatment. In Cyprus, “black money” is flooding the country where banks are offering an interest rate of 5 per cent, far higher than the EU average of about 1 per cent, causing a different kind of problem, he said.
Koppelin, who has been visiting Thailand regularly since 1985, also told Nation Channel that he believed Asia would benefit from moving towards a single currency in a decade or so.
