Merkel buries euro bonds as summit tension rises
German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to bury once and for all the idea of common euro zone bonds, saying Europe would not share total debt liability "as long as I live", as the bloc's big four finance ministers met to narrow differences on how to solve a worsening debt crisis.
Two days before a crucial European Union summit, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy released a seven-page report on closer fiscal and banking union envisaging a euro zone treasury that would issue common debt in the medium term.
Merkel immediately stamped on the idea of mutualising debt - favored by France, Italy and Spain - at a meeting of lawmakers from her Free Democratic coalition partners in Berlin, according to people who attended the closed-door session.
"I don't see total debt liability as long as I live," she was quoted as saying, a day after branding the idea of euro bonds "economically wrong and counterproductive".
However Germany, the EU's biggest economy and paymaster, appeared ready to budge on using the euro zone's rescue funds more flexibly to help banks and reassure investors spooked by an increased risk of facing write-downs on government bonds.
The parties in Merkel's centre-right coalition proposed allowing a new permanent rescue fund, known as the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), to funnel aid directly to national bank rescue funds, according to a draft seen by Reuters.
That could spare governments like Spain's some of the political stigma of a bailout, although the loans would still be on the state's balance sheet, increasing its debt, and would still be subject to strict conditions.
More significantly, conservative floor leader Volker Kauder told another meeting of lawmakers that euro zone governments were discussing making it possible to remove preferred creditor status from the ESM rescue fund, participants said.
Neither Merkel nor Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who insisted on that treaty clause to make private bondholders take first losses in any future debt restructuring by bailed-out states, spoke out in favor of such a move, the sources said.
The provision has scared investors off buying Spanish debt since Madrid was promised a bailout of up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion) for its debt-stricken banks, since they fear a possible "haircut", driving bond yields up to alarm levels.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to bury once and for all the idea of common euro zone bonds on Tuesday, saying Europe would not share total debt liability "as long as I live", as the bloc's big four finance ministers met to narrow differences on how to solve a worsening debt crisis.
Two days before a crucial European Union summit, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy released a seven-page report on closer fiscal and banking union envisaging a euro zone treasury that would issue common debt in the medium term.
Merkel immediately stamped on the idea of mutualising debt - favored by France, Italy and Spain - at a meeting of lawmakers from her Free Democratic coalition partners in Berlin, according to people who attended the closed-door session.
"I don't see total debt liability as long as I live," she was quoted as saying, a day after branding the idea of euro bonds "economically wrong and counterproductive".
However Germany, the EU's biggest economy and paymaster, appeared ready to budge on using the euro zone's rescue funds more flexibly to help banks and reassure investors spooked by an increased risk of facing write-downs on government bonds.
The parties in Merkel's centre-right coalition proposed allowing a new permanent rescue fund, known as the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), to funnel aid directly to national bank rescue funds, according to a draft seen by Reuters.
That could spare governments like Spain's some of the political stigma of a bailout, although the loans would still be on the state's balance sheet, increasing its debt, and would still be subject to strict conditions.
More significantly, conservative floor leader Volker Kauder told another meeting of lawmakers that euro zone governments were discussing making it possible to remove preferred creditor status from the ESM rescue fund, participants said.
Neither Merkel nor Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who insisted on that treaty clause to make private bondholders take first losses in any future debt restructuring by bailed-out states, spoke out in favor of such a move, the sources said.
The provision has scared investors off buying Spanish debt since Madrid was promised a bailout of up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion) for its debt-stricken banks, since they fear a possible "haircut", driving bond yields up to alarm levels.
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