–Repeats Eurobonds No Solution For Sovereign Debt Crisis
BERLIN (MNI) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday she
expected EU leaders to adopt at their summit this Thursday and Friday
the future permanent EU crisis mechanism and the necessary EU Treaty
change.
“The chances for that are good,” Merkel said in a government
declaration in the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag.
EU leaders will likely hold the final vote on the Treaty change by
their meeting in March of next year, the Chancellor explained. EU member
states would then have time until the end of 2012 to ratify the Treaty
change, she said.
Merkel again rejected the idea of issuing joint Eurobonds to
support fiscally ailing Eurozone member states. “This is no solution at
all,” she stressed, adding that the EU needed instead more political and
economic coordination. Moreover, member states have to converge to the
same level of economic competitiveness, she said.
The chancellor argued that the single European currency has proven
that it is able to weather the crisis. She noted that inflation in the
Eurozone is below the ECB’s goal of close to but below 2%. Moreover, the
euro foreign exchange rate against the dollar is markedly above its
long-term average, she pointed out.
“This means that the euro is stable, both with regard to its inner
as well as its external value,” Merkel said.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$X$$$,M$$CR$,MGX$$$,M$$FX$,M$G$$$,MT$$$$,MFX$$$]
