Juncker says governments must avert political crisis

PARIS (Reuters) - Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said on Monday authorities in the euro zone had to do everything possible to prevent the financial and economic crisis spiraling into a political crisis.

Speaking after European leaders hurried out plans to help banks through the crisis, Juncker said he believed the euro zone could still avoid recession, though he warned European economic growth would be very weak in 2009.

"We have to do everything we can to stop the financial and economic crisis from developing into a full-scale political crisis," Juncker told French radio station RTL.

"Our European compatriots are afraid, they are anxious, they don't trust anything anymore ... There is a systemic political risk if we're not careful," he said.

Juncker said European leaders who met in Paris on Sunday had acted fast and in a concerted fashion to try and help the banking sector function again and avert even more serious effects on the real economy.

Asked if he thought recession was inevitable in the European Union and the euro zone, he said: "I think that if all actors reacted in a responsible fashion, that is in a less irrational way, we would avoid a recession."

(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Valerie Lee)