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Eurozone talk ideas in frantic bid to save euro
Source: Agencies |
November 30, 2011, Wednesday
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THE 17 finance ministers of the countries that use the euro converged on the European Union headquarters yesterday in a desperate bid to save their currency - and to protect Europe, the United States, Asia and the rest of the global economy from a debt-induced financial tsunami.
The ministers were discussing ideas that would have been taboo only recently, before things got as bad as they are: countries ceding fiscal sovereignty to a central authority; some kind of elite group of euro nations that would guarantee one another's loans - but require strong fiscal discipline from anyone wanting membership.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated her support for changes to Europe's current treaties in order to create a fiscal union, that will include binding and enforceable commitments by all euro countries.
"Our priority is to have the whole of the eurozone to be placed on a stronger treaty basis," Merkel said yesterday in Berlin. "This is what we have devoted all of our efforts to; this is what I'm concentrating on in all of the talks with my counterparts."
Merkel acknowledged that changing the treaties won't be easy because not all of the EU's 27 member states "are enthusiastic about it." But she dismissed reports the eurozone, or some nations within the bloc, might go ahead with a swifter treaty between governments.
Changes to existing eurozone rules are being touted as one way the area can get out of its debt crisis, which has already forced bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, and is threatening to engulf Italy, the eurozone's third-largest. If Italy were to default on its debts of 1.9 trillion euros (US$2.5 trillion), the fallout could spell ruin for the euro and threaten the global economy.
The ministers were discussing ideas that would have been taboo only recently, before things got as bad as they are: countries ceding fiscal sovereignty to a central authority; some kind of elite group of euro nations that would guarantee one another's loans - but require strong fiscal discipline from anyone wanting membership.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated her support for changes to Europe's current treaties in order to create a fiscal union, that will include binding and enforceable commitments by all euro countries.
"Our priority is to have the whole of the eurozone to be placed on a stronger treaty basis," Merkel said yesterday in Berlin. "This is what we have devoted all of our efforts to; this is what I'm concentrating on in all of the talks with my counterparts."
Merkel acknowledged that changing the treaties won't be easy because not all of the EU's 27 member states "are enthusiastic about it." But she dismissed reports the eurozone, or some nations within the bloc, might go ahead with a swifter treaty between governments.
Changes to existing eurozone rules are being touted as one way the area can get out of its debt crisis, which has already forced bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, and is threatening to engulf Italy, the eurozone's third-largest. If Italy were to default on its debts of 1.9 trillion euros (US$2.5 trillion), the fallout could spell ruin for the euro and threaten the global economy.
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