FRANKFURT (MNI) – Mutualizing debt in the Eurozone is not the first
but rather the last step in the process of integration, European Central
Bank Governing Council member Jens Weidmann wrote in an opinion piece
for the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung, released Wednesday.
Weidmann, who heads the Bundesbank, lamented that “all too many
voices are pleading in the current discussion for the speedy
introduction of mutualized liability.”
However, the attempt “to take the last step of a comprehensive
integration first and to omit the others threatens to endanger monetary
union,” he warned.
The need to sacrifice national sovereignty and amend EU treaties is
being overlooked, Weidmann argued.
“Attempts to cheat one’s way past this with tricks undermines more
and more the confidence necessary for the future of monetary union,” he
added. Creating a debt union would “further intensify the present
political and economic instability.”
Weidmann called again for popular referenda in all the member
states on the next steps needed for European integration. Experience
teaches that required EU treaty changes would be relevant and binding
“only if a majority of the population supports them,” he wrote.
–Frankfurt bureau tel.: +49-69-720142. Email: dbarwick@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$X$$$,MT$$$$,MGX$$$,M$$CR$,M$G$$$,M$$EC$]
