German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday Germany is committed to do everything they can to maintain the euro and renewed her call for fiscal discipline by praising Canada for not "living on borrowed money" and saying it should serve as a model for Europe, AP reported. Merkel, fresh off her summer vacation, arrived in Ottawa for two days of meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Last month, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the bank would do "whatever it takes" to preserve the euro - and markets surged on hopes of action. Spokesmen for Merkel and Italian Premier Mario Monti backed Draghi's comments last month and Merkel supported them on Thursday. "What he said is something we repeated time and again since the beginning of the Greek difficulties more than two years ago. We feel committed to do everything we can to maintain the common currency. The European Central Bank, although it is of course independent, is completely in line with what we have said all along," Merkel said at a press conference with Harper. Merkel also lauded Canada for its economic management both in a statement and in person with Harper. "Canada is an example of how one can emerge from the crisis in a robust way," Merkel said. "You have a free trade system, you have sound budgetary policy and you have quite strong rules in the banking system. If you look at the last global economic crisis, Canada has weathered this crisis quite well." Merkel and Harper share the view that austerity, and not more government stimulus, is necessary. Harper, also a conservative, has said that fiscal discipline and economic growth can go hand in hand.
