European Stability Mechanism MD out on the wires just now with remarks to a conference in Luxembourg entitled "Towards an effective economic convergence in the EU"
- says he disagrees with reports finding Greek debt unsustainable
" The way to look at the numbers is not the high debt to GDP ratio. One should look at the debt service that Greece actually has to pay each year and these amounts are manageable"
- The US is able to smooth our economic shocks mostly through market mechanisms, with research suggesting only 13% due to fiscal transfers
"This underscores how crucial it is for Europe to complete banking union and implement capital markets union
That is not to say that a limited fiscal capacity would not be useful"
"It could be designed in a way that does not lead to permanent transfers or debt mutualisation. There are ways to do this without the need of changing the EU treaty"
Full speech on the ESM site here
ESM boss Klaus Regling- Pointing to a difference in opinion on Greek debt
