Germany bucking Europe fiscal firewall

Germany's finance minister told Group of 20 colleagues in Mexico City he was not sold on the idea of a major monetary firewall against Europe's debt crisis. Wolfgang Schauble said this weekend that extra funding for the European Stability Mechanism, a fund set up to prevent the spread of the financial turmoil that has roiled Greece and other European nations, would not effectively snuff out the crisis once and for all. "It does not make any economic sense [to take measures] which would neutralize the interest risk in the eurozone, nor endlessly pump money into stability funds, nor starting up the ECB [European Central Bank] printing press," Schauble said in an address to his fellow ministers. "All of this would not help countries to overcome their problems in the long term and restore calm in the markets," Schauble said. "This would create disincentives for countries to carry on consolidating and reforming and would not improve the eurozone's economic outlook." The Financial Times said Schauble's address voiced Germany's continued resistance to increased calls to beef up the ESM. The G20 is insisting on strengthening the ESM before members go along with increasing support for the International Monetary Fund. "We still have to build the mother of all firewalls," said Angel Gurría, secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. "The more credible it is and the bigger it is, the less likelihood we will have to use it."