BANGKOK - The worst is over for the euro debt crisis, the Vice President of the European Commission, Olli Rehn, said on Monday.
Mr Rehn, also the commissioner for economic and monetary affairs and the euro, told the Bangkok Post that the various measures taken over the past several months had helped arrest the crisis.
"There is no likelihood of any country leaving the eurozone," he said on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Finance Ministers' Meeting in Bangkok.
"The key message I told the ministers was that there is cause for prudent optimism. I think that the worst is over for the euro debt crisis."
Mr Rehn pointed to the launch last month of the European Stability Mechanism, a new permanent bailout fund to help struggling economies and banks with initial funding of 500 billion euros (US$653 billion).
"The European Central Bank has also shown willingness to take unconventional measures to avert a banking crisis," he said.
He believed Europeans would support additional measures aimed at strengthening the euro during public debates in the months ahead.
Discussion of the eurozone debt crisis was among the main topics at the 10th Asia-Europe Finance Ministers' Meeting today in Bangkok.
European Commissioner Olli Rehn talks with Thai Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong at the 10th Asia-Europe Finance Ministers' Meeting.
(Photo by Pattanapong Hurunard)