FRANKFURT (MNI) – European Central Bank Governing Council member
Nout Wellink on Wednesday added his voice to those opposing the idea of
a common Eurobond.
Speaking to reporters after a speech here, Wellink stressed that a
the common bond idea “is a very intransparent way of burden-sharing.”
“It is an implicit transfer of money to other countries; it takes
away the incentives to behave better,” he explained. “I am very much
against it.”
“If you want to help another country, then you need to do it
transparently,” he argued.
“At the end of the day,” Wellink said, fiscal problems are
“problems of governments. The moment solvency is involved, it is a
problem of the government.”
The ECB’s “mandate is to deliver price stability at close to 2%”
and the central bank is meeting that goal, he assured.
Asked about other options to counter the sovereign debt crisis,
Wellink replied, “We have an instrument now: there is [the European
Financial Stability Facility]…perhaps we can make it a bit more
effective.”
“At the end of the day, I think the most important thing is that
the countries themselves stick to their stability programs, their
adjustment programs. If they do that in a credible way, from that moment
on, I think the situation might change.”
Wellink also said he trusted that the United States “will deliver”
on implementation of the Basel III banking regulation reform.
–Frankfurt bureau, +49-69-720142, tbuell@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$$EC$,M$X$$$,MGX$$$]
