BRUSSELS (MNI) – A Eurobond might be desirable, but political
conditions in Europe today are not ripe for it, European Central Bank
Governing Council member Guy Quaden said Monday.
“As a citizen, I’m not against [E-bonds], but to do that, some
political conditions are to be fulfilled, which is not probably the case
today,” Quaden told reporters at a press conference in Brussels.
What’s needed for now, he said, is more oversight of individual
national governments by the common European authorities. “And the
different national governments have to accept more common discipline.”
With his comment on E-bonds, Quaden stepped into the debate which
was ratcheted up over the weekend when Eurogroup President Jean-Claude
Juncker and Italy’s Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti suggested that the
current crisis could be ended with the rapid creation of a European Debt
Agency, which would issue common Eurozone bonds.
Quaden, addressing the recent pressure on Belgian government bonds,
said, “the reaction of bond markets was very strange.”
He implicitly acknowledged, however, that Belgium — a highly
indebted EMU member — would likely miss its deficit target for 2011.
That target is 4.1% of GDP, and Quaden projected a deficit of 4.7%.
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