Obama calls Spanish, Italian leaders over debt crisis

Xinhua, August 9, 2011

U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday called leaders of Spain and Italy over the euro zone debt crisis and the situation in Syria, the White House said.

In his separate phone calls with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Obama talked about the latest developments in the euro zone crisis.

"The president welcomed the measures pursued by Spain and Italy to address their immediate economic challenges and improve their competitiveness," the White House said in a statement.

The debt crisis in the euro zone, which started in Greece, is spreading to Italy and Spain, the euro zone's third-largest and fourth-largest economies. Berlusconi promised to bring forward an austerity budget plan, aiming to achieve a balanced budget by 2013, a year ahead of the original schedule, while Spain has launched reforms to strengthen bank balance sheets, cut spending, open up the labor market, raise the retirement age and sell off assets.

On the situation in Syria, the three leaders condemned the Syrian government's "continued use of indiscriminate violence" against the Syrian people, and agreed to consult further on additional steps to pressure the government and support the Syrian people's "democratic aspirations," the White House said.

Both Zapatero and Berlusconi expressed their condolences over the deaths of 30 American servicemen in Afghanistan on Saturday, when a NATO helicopter crashed in the eastern part of the country.