European countries receiving international aid do not have to be rated by rating agencies. This is the proposal by Michel Barnier, European commissioner in charge of the internal market, to ease tensions on debt risks in the euro area. “I plan to ask the Polish presidency – Barnier specified – to put this proposal on the agenda for the next Ecofin meetings. Obviously, its feasibility would still have to be studied and the modalities of such an introduction would have to be looked at”.
Various European exponents in recent days have criticized the major American agencies, Standard & Poor's and Moody's, for having expressed judgments that have created alarm on the markets. In Brussels, meanwhile, the meeting of finance ministers of the monetary union is starting. The heads of the ECB and the European Commission are also taking part. Tomorrow the meeting will be extended to the entire EU 27.
