国际英语新闻：Eurozone finance ministers play down Hungarian debt problem

LUXEMBOURG, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Finance ministers of eurozone countries on Monday tried to play down the possibility that Hungary could fall into the same debt crisis as Greece.

Senior officials in the newly-elected Hungarian government gave rise to market concerns by saying the Eastern European country could face a Greek-style debt crisis last week.

Although Hungary is not a member of the euro zone, the statements led to fresh anxiety that the Greek debt crisis is spreading in the European continent, and caused the euro fell to 1. 1876 U.S. dollars on Monday, its lowest since March 2006.

President of Eurogroup and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker (L) and Managing Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF) Dominique Strauss-Kahn take interviews before the Eurozone financial ministers' meeting starts in Luxembourg, June 7, 2010. Finance ministers of the 16-member Eurozone are meeting here on Monday to finalize details of the rescue package agreed about one month ago to assure markets rattled by the European debt crisis.

"I do not see any problem at all with Hungary. I only see the problem that politicians from Hungary talk too much," Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said on his arrival for a monthly meeting of eurozone finance ministers here today.

Asked if Hungary is becoming the second Greece, European Union (EU) Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Olli Rehn answered: "No."

"The main challenge is to boost confidence," he said.

In a bid to assure nervous investors, Austrian finance minister Josef Proell said the Hungarian debt problem would not pose a risk for the euro zone.

"I do not think that Hungary can present a danger," he said.