FRANKFURT (MNI) – A gathering on Monday of high-ranking officials
from the European Central Bank, European Commission and European Council
has been characterized in various media reports as an emergency meeting,
but that characterization has apparently been refuted by officials
involved.
A regularly scheduled Eurogroup meeting of Eurozone finance
ministers is to be held Monday in Brussels against the backdrop of a
deteriorating sovereign debt crisis.
Prior to the Eurogroup meeting, European Council President Herman
Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, European
Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, Eurogroup head Jean-Claude
Juncker, EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn and a
representative of the Italian Finance Ministry will meet, according to
reports.
According to Spanish news agency EFE, a spokesman for Van Rompuy
rejected media assertions that the purpose of that earlier meeting was
to discuss the spread of the sovereign debt crisis to Italy, after
markets pushed Italian government bond yields to a nine-year high on
Friday. It “is not a matter of an emergency meeting” and has “nothing to
do” with the Italian situation, the spokesman was reported as saying.
Rather, the spokesman claimed that Van Rompuy and Barroso meet
every Monday and have simply extended an invitation to others, as they
have done on previous occasions, EFE said. The presence of an Italian
Finance Ministry representative is a “coincidence,” the spokesman
asserted.
The meeting will take place before the Eurogroup meeting begins in
the mid-afternoon and, according to the spokesman, will help prepare for
the Eurogroup gathering, at which a new Greek rescue plan is to be the
main item on the agenda.
–Frankfurt bureau tel.: +49-69-720142. Email: frankfurt@marketnews.com
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