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Merkel, Hollande hold talks on eurozone crisis

16 May 2012 03:31 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. French President Francois Hollande has met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin to hammer out their differences over how to tackle the eurozone debt crisis, APA reports quoting Press TV.

Hours after being sworn in as French president, Hollande arrived in Germany on Tuesday to discuss ways to revive Europe’s economy and prevent the euro crisis from worsening in the wake of Greece’s political and financial problems.

The new French president has been a staunch critic of austerity measures, particularly those proposed by Merkel to battle the crisis dogging the eurozone, and has instead called for more policies geared toward boosting economic growth in the 17-nation single-currency area.

"Everything must be put on the table by everyone" in Europe that could promote growth, Hollande said at a joint press conference after a meeting with Merkel.

He also stated that he wanted to work with Germany "for the good of Europe" and that he envisions "a balanced and respectful relationship."

The two leaders said it was important for all EU member states that Greece remain in the eurozone and stated that they were ready to help promote growth in Greece but existing agreements had to be maintained.

Merkel said that measures to spur growth in Greece will be â€œconsideredâ€ and the European Union â€œmay approach Greece with ideas of its own.â€

â€œGreece can stay in the euro area,â€ and â€œGreek citizens will be voting on exactly that,â€ she added.

Greece announced that new elections will be held after the countryâ€™s politicians failed to assemble a governing coalition following an inconclusive election on May 6.

â€œIâ€™ll respect the vote of the Greeks whatever it is,â€ Hollande said. â€œYet my responsibility is to give Greece a signal. I see the suffering and challenges that the Greeks feel. The Greeks need to know weâ€™ll come with growth measures that will allow them to stay in the eurozone.â€

The Greeks are angry about the two years of harsh austerity measures imposed on their country in return for bailouts from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.