| Author (Person) | Spiegel, Peter |
|---|---|
| Series Title | Financial Times |
| Series Details | 3.9.12 |
| Publication Date | 03/09/2012 |
| Content Type | News |
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In December 2011 when the European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi moved the ECB and its considerable resources into the eurozone crisis with force Europe’s leaders allowed themselves a bit of self-congratulation. However, as political leaders returned to work from Europe’s holiday-induced slumber in August 2012, there was no such self-satisfaction – despite the prospect of Mr Draghi again riding to the rescue with a restart of the ECB’s sovereign bond buying programme, the outlines of which he was expected to unveil on the 6 September 2012. Part of the reason for the unease was the knowledge that Mr Draghi’s largesse would this time come with significantly more strings attached. The central bank chief had made clear he would not act to help an embattled country such as Italy or Spain by purchasing its bonds on the open market – lowering borrowing costs to more sustainable levels – unless its government was fully bound by a 'memorandum of understanding' committing national governments to sweeping and painful reforms. EurActiv and other news sources reported on the 3rd September 2012 that credit rating agency Moody's had lowered the EU’s triple A rating outlook to negative, warning that it might downgrade the bloc if it decided to cut the ratings on the EU's four biggest budget contributors: Germany, France, United Kingdom and Netherlands. The move would add to pressure on the European Central Bank to provide details of a new debt-buying scheme to help indebted eurozone states at its Monetary Policy Committee meeting on the 6 September 2012. |
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| Subject Categories | Economic and Financial Affairs |
| Countries / Regions | Europe, Spain |
