Germany refused to share the debt burden of stressed eurozone peers yesterday, ignoring two of the most influential international economic bodies which offered support for proposals championed by Paris, Rome and Brussels ahead of a summit.
Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, has argued that any co-mingling of eurozone debt would remove incentives for southern economies to adopt structural reforms. The calls from the International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development came on the eve of tonight’s EU summit.
François Hollande, France’s new president, has strongly backed common eurozone bonds – which would ease funding constraints for the eurozone’s stressed periphery but potentially raise German borrowing costs by diluting its creditworthiness across the currency union.