BRUSSELS (MNI) – Eurozone members must resolve the issue of
national sovereignty in budget matters before considering joint debt
issuance, Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter said Tuesday.
National treaties will have to be modified first, “then we can
discuss collective instruments like eurobonds,” the minister told
reporters ahead of the meeting of Eurozone finance ministers here.
The minister said she shared the Bundesbank’s concerns about
demanding that the ECB “print money” to shore up the finances of
individual governments.
Fekter also underscored Austria’s efforts to preserve its AAA
credit rating by practicing “very great budget discipline” and anchoring
the principle of balanced budgets in the constitution.
It would be hard to justify to Austrian taxpayers any measures at
the EU level that might jeopardize this status, she said: “We have
solidarity with the Europeans, but we must also pay attention to our own
stability.”
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