Obama voices concern over Eurozone crisis

BERLIN/ROME: German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought on Tuesday to quash talk of an imminent Greek default as the United States president Barack Obama voiced fresh concern at the euro zone’s inability to master its debt crisis.
Merkel said in a radio interview that Europe was doing everything in its power to avoid a Greek default and urged politicians in her own coalition to weigh their words carefully to avoid creating turmoil on financial markets.
Obama was quoted as saying euro zone leaders need to show markets they are taking responsibility for the debt crisis and work out how to tally monetary union with budget policy. Greece is the immediate concern, but an even bigger problem is what may happen should markets take another run at the larger economies of Spain and Italy, he said.
US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner will take the unprecedented step of attending ameeting of EU finance ministers in Poland on Friday. It will be his second trip to Europe in a week after he met EU counterparts at a G7 meet.