Worst of euro crisis behind us: EU commissioner

BERLIN: The worst of the crisis affecting the euro is over, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said on Sunday, warning however that the struggle to clean up budget deficits had only just begun.

In an interview with the Tagesspiegel newspaper, Oettinger said that the near trillion-dollar rescue package agreed by EU leaders at a crisis summit last weekend would serve to stabilise the euro.

"I am very confident that the worst of the danger to our currency is behind us," he said.

But he added: "One thing is clear: we have only won time with our decisions of recent days, we have not won the battle. The battle will be won when member states draw up their budgets for 2011."

European Union leaders agreed a colossal fund to shore up the economies of ailing eurozone members but have stressed that more needs to be done to reduce the huge piles of debt that some member states have racked up.