Germany and France are ruling out eurobonds as a solution to the eurozone debt crisis, despite renewed pressure before a meeting between chancellor Angela Merkel and president Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Tuesday.
Wolfgang Schäuble, German finance minister, told Der Spiegel magazine that Berlin remained opposed to such a policy. “I rule out eurobonds for as long as member states conduct their own financial policies, and we need different rates of interest in order that there are possible incentives and sanctions to enforce fiscal solidity,” he said.
French officials also played down speculation that the subject would be raised at the meeting. “Eurobonds would require a much more determined integration of budgetary policy,” one said. “We do not have that today. It could be a long-term project, but you cannot have eurobonds and at the same time national economic and budgetary policies.”