Olli Rehn, the EU's Economic Affairs Commissioner and a key architect of the eurozone's bailout policy, shot back at the International Monetary Fund on Friday for its criticism of Brussels' handling of the Greek debt crisis. "I worked with the United States in the Western Balkans (for a long time) to stabilise the region. We both used to say... we went there together, we come out of there together," Rehn said during a panel debate in Helsinki.
"That was fair play, that was real partnership. And I don't think it is fair and that the IMF is trying to wash its hands and throw the dirty water on the Europeans' shoulders," he added. The commissioner was responding to a report released Wednesday in which the IMF claimed the "ability to move quickly" were "skills that European institutions lacked." The IMF also chided the European Union for shying away from involving private creditors in the spring 2010 bailout of Athens that quickly turned into a failure and triggered a second, far more destabilising rescue in 2012. Rehn pointed his finger at Greece for any lack of courage in pushing through hard decisions earlier. "Unfortunately there were too many obstacles because of vested interests in Greece and sometimes also by the opposition in Greece," he said.
In the debate, the Finnish politician also raised concern over a proposal by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande to overhaul economic governance in the eurozone. "It is the community method that makes the EU effective," he said, adding that the calls from Paris and Berlin "seem to suggest that the wheel should be reinvented."
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