Speaking to those who matter

Reuters continued to deliver strong interviews last week, most notably with Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou who said fiscal and economic reforms were on track but conceded that significant structural risks remained, inflation was a worry, and the government needed to guard against ‘reform fatigue’ among a population struggling to cope with austerity. On the same day (July 7), Reuters also interviewed Slovakia’s finance minister in waiting. Tiny country it may be but Slovakia has single-handedly blocked the launch of the euro zone’s planned 440 billion euros safety fund for debtor countries. Ivan Miklos said he would go to his first Eurogroup meeting in Brussels ready to negotiate on his government’s resistance, which is rooted in the fact that Slovakia is much poorer than most of the likely recipients of help.