(Repeats story published on Sarturday)
PRAGUE, Dec 11 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel
told Czech and Polish prime ministers that she would welcome
their countries into the eurozone, daily Lidove Noviny reported
on Saturday, citing unnamed sources.
By inviting the two central European countries, Merkel wants
to boost the position of fiscally disciplined and economically
strong countries within the bloc, the paper said.
The paper said Germany's stance on how to heal the bloc's
debt crisis was supported only by the Netherlands, Austria,
Finland and Slovakia.
This leaves it in a minority against France, Spain, Italy,
Portugal, Belgium, Greece and Ireland who oppose sanctions for
excessive debt and reject orderly bankruptcy.
Any new country that entered the bloc would also be obliged
to contribute to its aid mechanism, booting its cash reserves,
the paper said.
The paper said Merkel asked the Czech Prime Minister Petr
Necas to enter the bloc during his official visit to Germany in
September.
Before this, she had a meeting with Poland's Prime Minister
Donald Tusk and also asked him to apply for the euro, the paper
said, without indicating sources of the information.
In a separate interview for the same newspaper, Necas
declined to confirm or deny whether Merkel told him she would
welcome if Czechs joined the euro.
"I do not know why (I should) say more than what we had said
at a press conference then," he said when asked the question.
The Czechs have been cautious about adopting the euro. They
are reluctant to set a euro entry target date, saying the costs
of switching to the single currency are too high.
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At the moment, Czechs, like nearly all euro zone present
members, do not meet the fiscal entry criterion, calling for the
total fiscal gap below 3 percent of GDP.
The government plans to narrow the overall public sector
deficit to 4.6 percent next year from this year's expected 5.1
percent and has a long-term plan of a balanced budget in 2016.
But Czech public debt, another entry criterion and the euro
zone's periphery countries achilles heel, is at some 37 percent
of output, comfortably below the bloc's-prescribed 60 percent
threshold, and about a half of the EU 27 average.
Necas' cabinet had said it would not set any euro adoption
date and in the Lidove Noviny interview Necas, who took office
after a May general election, reiterated he saw no reason to
apply for membership in the club.
Poland was the only country in the 27-strong EU to avoid
recession during the peak of the global economic crisis.
(Reporting by Jana Mlcochova)
