LONDON (MNI) – The split between France and Germany over the
usefulness of eurobonds as a short-term solution to the euro zone crisis
was echoed by the debt managers of the two countries in comments today.
Carl Heinz Daube said today that a eurobond could only come at the
end of a “long roadmap” while French Agence France Tresor Chief Philippe
Mills preferred to point out that this issue was one for a “high level”.
“A Eurobond can only be at the end of a long roadmap. A Eurobond
is no solution for today’s problems,” Daube told the Euromoney Global
Borrowers’ and Investors’ Forum:
French Debt Chief Philippe Mills, on the other hand, said that the
eurobond question would be discussed by EU officials in the next few
days – referring to the EU summit later this month:
“Let’s see what happens on eurobond talks. The eurobond will be
discussed in the next 10-15 days,” Mills continued.
In other comments, Mills said that some of the current market gloom
was not rooted in the actual facts of the current economic and
political situation.
“The problem is more that some of the gloom expressed isn’t reliant
on facts”.
Mills reacting angrily to comments made earlier by one speaker who
had suggested that euro zone states had not made much progress in terms
of adjusting their economies.
The French debt official also minimised the importance of
bid-to-cover ratios, noting that since the onset of the crisis France
had seen a rise in its bid-to-cover ratio.
–London Bureau; tel: +442078627492; email:
nshamim@marketnews.com/dthomas@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$X$$$,MNXAU$,MFX$$$,MGX$$$,M$$FI$,MMXBO$]
