Europe needs an institution similar to the International Monetary Fund to combat situations such as the Greek fiscal crisis, Germany's finance minister was quoted as saying Sunday.


"We're not planning an institution that would compete with the IMF, but for the internal stability of the eurozone, we need an institution that has the experience and power of the IMF," Wolfgang Schaeuble told the Welt am Sonntag.

"We should calmly discuss the consequences of the Greece crisis and should not rule anything out, even the creation of a European Monetary Fund," he said.

"I will shortly be making proposals on this topic," added the minister.

"The idea is that Greece must not happen again and we must reinforce economic policy coordination. That is a priority," said EU spokesman Amadeu Altafaj Tardio

"We are in discussion with the countries of the eurozone. This is about ways and means to be more effective in pre-empting (financial crises) and surveillance" of economic policies, he told reporters.

Altafaj Tardio neither give a timetable for the creation of European Monetary Fund, nor details of the current discussions.