German fin min says Greece could benefit from exporting solar power to Germany - report

(ADPnews) - Jun 22, 2011 - Greece could export solar power to Germany as a means to stabilise its economy, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in an interview with weekly newspaper Die Zeit.

In Schaeuble's view, the EU needs to provide Greece with new growth opportunities and solar energy could be one of them. Greece has many more sunshine hours annually than Germany and solar power could become a competitive export product for the Greek economy, the minister said. Without growth opportunities like this one, Schaeuble would not burden German taxpayers with a new bailout programme for Greece, he added.

Greece has been struggling with excessive national debt since 2010. The government has implemented drastic measures to get the economy back on track, including a reduction of salaries in the public sector, an increase of value-added tax (VAT) and a higher retirement age. The austerity measures have been the cause of strikes and massive protests by Greeks.

Last week, the finance ministers from the eurozone decided that Greece must adopt a package of stricter austerity measures in order to receive loans of EUR 12 billion (USD 17bn).

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.439)

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