Obama to raise ‘specific’ euro ideas at G8 summit

US: President Barack Obama will raise “specific” actions Europe could take on its debt crisis at the G8 summit starting Friday, as Washington welcomes talk of more growth-oriented policies.

Obama's national security adviser Tom Donilon however said that the ultimate decisions on saving the euro zone would be down to continental leaders themselves, and noted a European Union summit was looming on May 23.

“The United States welcomes the evolving discussion and debate in Europe about the imperative for jobs and growth,” Donilon said a day before G8 leaders arrive at the presidential retreat at Camp David in Maryland.

“The United States has an extraordinarily significant stake in the outcomeof the economic discussions in Europe and the steps that are taken in Europe.”

The European Union as a whole, of course, is the largest trading partner of the United States.” Obama will head to Camp David after his first talks at the White House on Friday with new French President Francois Hollande, who won election pledging to refocus European fiscal policy from austerity to growth. The US leader has suggested recently that his own prescription of stimulatory measures introduced in 2009, helped the US economy return to moderate growth and avoid Europe's financial misery.

Donilon said that Obama, though welcoming talk of growth oriented policies did not intend to exploit differences on the issue between Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a champion of austerity measures. “I think there'll be a discussion, I believe, about specific steps that might be taken to move forward.

“The nature of these conversations will be about a coherent and common goal of having the current crisis managed well and getting on a path towards sustainable recovery,” Donilon said. AFP