Barroso says no one wants Europe fragmentation

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No-one in Europe is suggesting a break-up of the euro zone or the European Union, and the solution for the region's sovereign debt woes is greater integration, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Friday.
"The solution is not to divide Europe, it is to bring it closer together," Barroso told reporters in Lisbon. "Nobody is suggesting fragmentation."
Reuters reported on Wednesday that German and French officials have discussed plans for a radical overhaul of the European Union that would involve establishing a more integrated and potentially smaller euro zone.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected the idea of a smaller euro zone on Thursday.
Barroso said that all member states should stick to their responsibilities, be it in giving assistance to weaker countries or meeting targets for budget consolidation assumed by the more vulnerable states.
"Countries that do their part in terms of (consolidation) efforts will keep getting support," he said.
Asked if he was confident that Italy would soon have a new government, Barroso said he was confident. "I am very hopeful that Italy will sort out this situation soon. Recent news we have been receiving go in that direction," he said.
He said he expected the new government in Greece, whose severe debt crisis and political chaos have threatened to force Athens out of the euro zone, will do everything it has promised to fulfill the terms of a 130 billion euro bailout plan agreed with European partners in October.
In Athens, Greece's prime minister-designate Lucas Papademos was set to name a new crisis cabinet to calm the political turmoil that has roiled markets.