The eurozone is for ever taking two steps backwards, so it is a relief when it takes a small one forward. Monday’s decision by the bloc’s finance ministers that the European stability mechanism, the eurozone’s permanent bail-out mechanism, will not have preferred creditor status, is an example. It was a mistake to put such a hulking creditor second only to the International Monetary Fund in the recovery queue. Policymakers should have foreseen that this would make private investors reluctant to buy sovereign bonds: they would be stuck with whatever was left after the ESM was made good. Two cheers for a sensible U-turn.
欧元区总是在后退两步，因此当它向前迈出一小步时外界颇感安慰。周一欧元区财长做出决定，欧元区永久性纾困机制欧洲稳定机制(ESM)将不会取得优先债权人的地位，这就是一个例子。让这个如此庞大的债权人在获得补偿的队伍中排在仅次于国际货币基金组织(IMF)的位置，是一个错误。决策者本应预见到，这将令私人投资者不愿购买主权债券：他们只能得到ESM获得偿付之后剩下的残羹剩饭。为这一明智的政策大转变欢呼两声吧。