Eurobonds yes, or Eurobonds no? The issue is very topical: many countries, France and Italy in the lead, are pushing for them, while Germany has never made a secret of not liking them. And to the rescue of Chancellor Angela Merkel also comes the president of the German central bank, Jens Weidmann, also a managing member of the board of the ECB.
“Thinking that Eurobonds will solve the crisis is an illusion,” 44-year-old Weidmann said bluntly in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde. “Growth – continued the head of the Berlini monetary institution – is always a good thing, but being pro-growth is like being pro-world peace: it is obvious that we all agree, the question is how to get there”.
On European bonds to finance infrastructure Weidmann was cutting: “The communitarisation of public debts is not the right tool to solve the problem of growth: it would pose both legal and economic problems. Growth passes above all through structural reforms", reiterated the ECB member, adding also, in a polemical tone: "This debate is irritating, every month some ingenious idea emerges to defeat the crisis, only to then disappear and give way to a other. Project bonds are all the rage now, but are we so sure that it is the lack of infrastructure that is holding back development in the countries of the Eurozone?”.
“In any case – reports Le Monde again – Eurobonds need a long process, which involves among other things, something that many forget or underestimate, the states amending their constitutions and also a revision of the European treaties. All of this is therefore possible only on the condition of a more federal Europe, but this type of debate is not even taken into consideration, not even by countries, such as France, which continue to ask for the Europeanization of bonds. Here there is talk of transferring part of sovereignty to the EU, but in Paris I see no trace of a real public debate, nor of any support from the population in this sense".
The main problem indicated by Weidmann is therefore the absence of a true federalist turnaround. While on Greece: “The crises of peripheral countries have no direct link with the fate of the euro, even if they highlight its structural problems. There is a lot of talk about devaluation, but it would only have ephemeral effects: we have also seen it in the past, the devaluation of a currency does not permanently cure the ills of an economy." And on the future of Athens in the euro area? Are there already consequences for a possible exit of Greece from the single currency? “It all depends on them. As for the second question, I won't answer."
