"Spain doesn't need rescue fund" : Oli Rehn

 

in, Italy and France will not need support from the euro zone's rescue fund, EU Monetary Affairs Commission Olli Rehn said in an interview with Bild newspaper on Monday.

We don't expect that these countries will need help from the stability mechanism," he said. "They are taking the right measures themselves to get their budgets and economies in order. That is the way to restore and strengthen market confidence."

Rehn also told Bild that he also expects euro zone countries to quickly agree - by September at the latest - to widen the scope of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) that was agreed by EU leaders at a July 21 summit.

Some German lawmakers have warned that this is overly ambitious.

"The parliamentary procedures are different everywhere," Rehn said. "In some countries a ratification is required but in others it's not. But we've got to quickly enact the measures agreed at the July 21 summit - at the latest in September - to put an end to the uncertainties."

On Sunday, the president of the German parliament, Norbert Lammert, poured cold water on the government's plans to have a vote on the EFSF in parliament on Sept. 23. Lammert, a leader among Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, spoke out against the government's efforts to rush the measure through parliament.

On Friday, sources said parliamentary groups in Merkel's coalition planned to put the reforms to the euro zone's financial rescue fund to a vote in Bundestag on Sept 23.

The Berlin government -- along with governments in Austria, Finland, the Netherlands and Slovakia - have said they are confident their parliaments will approve the July 21 deal by euro zone leaders to widen the scope of the 440 billion euros EFSF.

Most legislatures are in summer recess until next month and governments have chosen not to recall them.