Warning: Euro crisis could spread to Belgium, Italy

Their high levels of debt may become the cause

BERLIN: Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker warned Saturday that the euro crisis hitting Greece and others could affect Italy and Belgium. Luxembourg Prime Minister Juncker, who heads the group of eurozone finance ministers, said that the problems which have forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek emergency bailouts from the EU and the IMF could also hit Belgium and Italy, due to their high levels of debt, even before Spain.   In the German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung, Juncker also warned against obliging private creditors to take part in a second bailout package which is being planned for Greece, warning that ratings agencies would see such a move as a debt default. If Greece was deemed to be a defaulter that would have drastic consequences for the rest of the eurozone, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2011.