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EUROZONE

Bailout fund could top €750 billion, Weber says

Bundesbank president Axel Weber has floated the possibility of increasing the €750 billion rescue fund for the euro should further bailouts of ailing countries be required.

Bailout fund could top €750 billion, Weber says
Axel Weber. Photo: DPA

The remarks came amid fears that euro zone members Spain and Portugal could soon follow Ireland in requesting help from the fund, which was set up in May by European countries and the International Monetary Fund following Greece’s bailout.

Weber, speaking in Paris on Wednesday evening, said Europe would not allow speculators to undermine the euro.

“If that amount is not enough, we could increase it,” Weber said. “An attack on the euro has no chance of succeeding.”

The fund, to which European countries are contributing €500 billion and the IMF the other €250 billion, aimed to calm fears among investors about the reliability of struggling euro zone members. Ireland’s request to tap the fund has, however, underscored the possibility of other countries being forced to seek emergency loans.

On Thursday, the head of the fund, Germany’s Klaus Regling, insisted there would be enough money and that there was no way the current debt crisis could sink the euro.

“The safety umbrella would be big enough for everyone,” he told daily Bild.

Asked whether there was a danger of the eurozone collapsing, Regling said: “The risk is zero.”

“It is unimaginable that the euro could fail. No country would leave the euro of their own free will – for weak countries, it would be economic suicide and for the strong countries too.”

However he acknowledge that “there is some uncertainty as to whether the crisis could spread to other countries.”

On Wednesday, Ireland unveiled a €15-billion austerity package required to unlock an international bailout reportedly worth €85 billion, slashing public sector pay and pensions but refusing to raise corporate tax.

Regling said he “in no way” believed the crisis could spread to European heavyweights Italy and France.

DAPD/AFP/dw

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FOOTBALL

‘I’m fine — under the circumstances’: Collapsed Danish striker tweets from hospital

Christian Eriksen, the Danish football player who collapsed on the pitch in his country's opening Euro 2020 game, said that he was doing "fine" in an Instagram post from hospital on Tuesday.

'I’m fine — under the circumstances': Collapsed Danish striker tweets from hospital
Danish striker Christian Eriksen tweeted a picture of himself in hospital. Photo: DBU

“I’m fine — under the circumstances, I still have to go through some examinations at the hospital, but I feel okay,” he wrote in a post accompanying a photo of him smiling and giving a thumbs-up while lying in bed.

In a scene that shocked the sporting world and beyond, the 29-year-old Inter Milan midfielder suddenly collapsed on the field in the 43rd minute of Denmark’s Group B game on Saturday against Finland in Copenhagen.

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Medical personnel administered CPR as he lay motionless on the field for about 15 minutes before being carried off the pitch and rushed to hospital. He was later confirmed to have suffered cardiac arrest.

“Big thanks for your sweet and amazing greetings and messages from all around the world. It means a lot to me and my family,” he wrote in Tuesday’s post. “Now, I will cheer on the boys on the Denmark team in the next matches. Play for all of Denmark.”

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