Obama welcomes EU debt deal

US President Barack Obama welcomed the EU’s debt crisis plan
© AFP/File Jim Watson

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama on Thursday welcomed “important” decisions taken by Europe at a marathon summit to fix its debt crisis partly by shoring up a trillion euro bailout fund.

“We welcome the important decisions made last night by the European Union which lay a critical foundation for a comprehensive solution to the eurozone crisis,” Obama said in a written statement.

“We look forward to the full development and rapid implementation of their plan. We will continue to support the EU and our European allies in their efforts to address this crisis as we work together to sustain the global recovery and put our people back to work.”

White House officials meanwhile declined to predict whether the plan would forestall fears of a future global recession, following warnings that events in Europe could severely hamper America’s sluggish recovery.

And White House spokesman Jay Carney, a week before Obama is due to leave for Europe for the G20 summit, stressed the need for the European plan agreed at a summit in Brussels to be implemented in full.

“The president’s message to the European Union and broadly to all the members of the G20 is that we need to work individually as country and collectively together to ensure that we sustain and continue the global economic recovery and put our people back to work,” he said.