Wall Street Journal
October 21, 2011
Euro-zone governments still seemed a long way on Thursday night, ahead of two expected summits over the next week, from finding a way to boost the clout of the euro-zone's bailout fund without triggering unintended consequences that could worsen their crisis.
In an interview Thursday, Olli Rehn, the European Union's economics commissioner, said that governments still had to make "basic choices" on maximizing the firepower of the European Financial Stability Facility. Germany and the euro zone's stronger economies are seeking to secure a bigger bang for the €440 billion ($605 billion) of guarantees they have pledged to the fund.
One way of doing this, favored by France and others—to turn the EFSF into a bank and give it access to European Central Bank financing—has been ruled out by EU lawyers as contravening the treaty forbidding bailouts of fellow governments. As a result, Mr. Rehn said, policy makers are seeking what he described as the "best of the second-best models" for the bailout fund.
More
No comments:
Post a Comment