Obama welcomes EU debt deal

US President Barack Obama yesterday 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,” Mr Obama said .

“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.”

The European deal will add­ress the debt mountain in Greece, cutting it by €100 billion in an agreement between the eurozone and private creditor banks to take a 50 per cent loss on their holdings.

Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Lambrinidis held talks yesterday in Washington with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who welcomed both the European deal and a domestically controversial Greek austerity plan.

“The Greek people are making major changes and big sacrifices to return their country to financial health and economic competitiveness,” Mrs Clinton told reporters as she entered talks with Mr Lambrinidis.

“While those changes and sacrifices are certainly painful, they are necessary. And in the long run, they will benefit Greece and its partners, but most particularly the children and future generations of Greek citizens.”

Mr Lambrinidis for his part praised the “extremely important and helpful role” by the United States during the crisis.

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 Mr 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.