The leaders of Germany, France and Italy, the eurozone’s three biggest powers, made tougher fiscal governance a top priority in their battle to stem the sovereign debt crisis but offered no immediate concessions to calls for intervention by the European Central Bank.
Their emphasis on structural change to stabilise economic performance left markets unimpressed. The euro fell from $1.338 against the dollar at the start of the leaders’ press conference to a low of $1.332, while stock markets across Europe gave up earlier gains.
German chancellor Angela Merkel and Mario Monti, the new Italian prime minister, spoke of creating a “fiscal union” to drive economic integration and enforce budgetary discipline. Ms Merkel made clear that she wanted ambitious steps enshrined in treaty before contemplating the issuance of commonly backed eurobonds, any early discussion of which she has dismissed as “inappropriate” in a crisis.