Clinton jabs 'jerry-rigged' EU rescue, urges growth

Page last updated at 14:31 GMT, Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - 19:31 EST

AFP:

Former US president Bill Clinton waves after his speech at the Milken Institute Global Conference

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Europe cannot end its budget crisis by belt-tightening alone and must promote growth, US ex-president Bill Clinton said Wednesday, lamenting its "jerry-rigged" rescue efforts so far.

He said the countries sharing Europe's single currency should have designed an exit strategy in advance for weaker countries like Greece admitted to the eurozone in good times, but threatened with expulsion in bad.

Clinton, who oversaw sustained economic growth during his two terms in the White House, likened Europe's current crisis to Japan's economic crisis of a decade or more ago, saying long-term solutions are needed, not quick fixes.

"This European crisis has laid bare two problems: one (an) organizational problem of letting in the more vulnerable countries with no exit strategy," he told a business and economic conference in Beverly Hills.

Read the whole story: AFP