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BBC World Service

‘Increased discipline’ needed to fix Europe

Andrew Walker Nov 28, 2011

Steve Chiotakis: Today, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — the OECD — published a bunch of pretty grim economic forecasts for the eurozone. It says economies will continue to shrink into next year and the OECD is calling for decisive action to tackle the continent’s big debt crisis.

The BBC’s Andrew Walker is with us from London with the latest. Hey Andrew.

Andrew Walker: Hello there.

Chiotakis: So what are some of the plans we’re hearing about in solving — or trying to solve — this crisis?

Walker: Two key things: I think we might well get more detail on exactly how Europe intends to go on increasing the firepower of its agency for providing financial assistance to struggling European governments. And I think there’s also a lot of talk going on — especially between France and Germany — about increased discipline on finances of governments that use the euro.

Chiotakis: I mean, is there anything coming down the pike immediately?

Walker: There might well be something on that question of increased discipline. France and Germany would like to get on this quite quickly because if there is something in the pipeline that would produce results fairly quickly, then it might just increase the chances of the European Central Bank acting more aggressively to deal with the crisis right now. France in particular would desperately like the bank to do that.

Chiotakis: The BBC’s Andrew Walker in London. Andrew, thank you.

Walker: My pleasure.

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