Euro breakup will hurt India

Arguing for a stronger Euro at an interactive session at Express Adda in Mumbai on Friday,Ambassador of Spain Gustavo Manuel de Aristegui said the problem is not going to be solved

Arguing for a stronger Euro at an interactive session at Express Adda in Mumbai on Friday,Ambassador of Spain Gustavo Manuel de Aristegui said the problem is not going to be solved by dismantling Euro but by strengthening it further. If something goes wrong with Europe,it will impact the whole world, he said.

His Greek and Portuguese counterparts,Ioannis Rapttakis and Jorge Roza de Oliveira respectively,agreed. A breakaway of the Eurozone would be devastating not only for itself but for the rest of the world and it is something that no one wants. India too wont be a better place if Euro breaks up and there is a huge tragedy in Europe, said Oliveira,adding that everyone in Europe is of the opinion that Euro is an achievement that is irreversible. Once you are there,you are there to stay.

The Greek Ambassador,in fact,thanked the crisis since it helped them see the problem and deal with it. We have started a lot of our reforms the pension system,health system8230; they were large and could not survive the way they were8230; because of the crisis we managed to make them smaller and more efficient, said Rapttakis. There will be no Grexit Greece exit from Euro,he said,adding none of the 28 members will exit the European Union.

The ambassadors also called for enhanced co-operation and said they have to make the monetary union and political union work. Aristegui called for budgetary co-ordination.

Responding to a query on the direction that they want growth in Europe to take the Japan way or the India way Aristegui said the best formula is somewhere in the middle. It is a demand crisis and you have to act have austerity measures on one hand and stimulus plans for the economy on the other hand, he said.

The Express Adda was attended by RBI deputy governor K C Chakraborty,Nikhil Meswani,executive director,Reliance Industries,Hemendra Kothari,chairman,DSP Blackrock Mutual Fund and Nilesh Shah,president,Axis Bank among others.