German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti have “agreed to do everything to protect the euro”. This comes from a German government statement issued in Berlin on Sunday after Merkel had a telephone conversation with Monti. On Friday a statement almost-identical in wording was issued by Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.
None of the statements explain the specifics actions to be taken to protect our all-precious euro though. However, according to Associated Press (via Miami Herald):
“The comments raised expectations that the ECB might step in to buy Spanish and perhaps Italian government bonds to lower the countries’ borrowing costs, which have been worryingly high in recent weeks.
Another possibility might be for the eurozone’s temporary rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, to buy bonds – though Merkel’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, has dismissed talk Spain might apply to the fund for such help. He told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that “there is nothing to this speculation.”
And while I was thinking, “Thank God, the euro is saved, so I can go to the Opera tonight”, I made the mistake to scroll down and read the rest of the article. There was again something about …Greece. While Greek PM Antonis Samaras considers touring the EU early September and convince the country’s lenders to give some more time, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble slams the door.
“The aid program is already very accommodating. I cannot see that there is still scope for further concessions,” Germany’s Schaeuble was quoted as telling Welt am Sonntag.
Of course, nobody should expect any policy change towards Greece before the Troika has concluded its fiscal report giving the coalition government some good notes.
Therefore, I think, the best way to avoid the permanent stitching and digging by Greece’s lenders is to go outside and enjoy the divine Tosca 🙂
Would you think they would ever make up their minds and agree on something, if only the weather being too hot?
Hollande and Merkel want to outsource Euro responsibility to the ECB, Monti reckons it’s a good idea too. So what do they want the ECB to do? Buy up government debt and reduce pressure on the various badly squeeking Euro Governments.
And this morning, German MP Joerg-Uwe Hahn from Merkel’s government partners says that Germany should sue the little socks of the ECB for… buying government debt. Meanwhile, Wolfie is still in “reduced vocabulary” mode, limited to “Nein”. This time in answer to the question whether Spain asked for a bailout or not. It was presumably also a pre-emptive strike against any questions re Greece..