Greece’s central banker Yannis Stournaras was campaigning for a common Eurobond before it was trendy, writes POLITICO in an interview with the governor of the Bank of Greece (BoG).
As he points out, the hardest part of his “sell” now is convincing the German government.
The central banker told the news site the arguments in support of a common bond weighed in his favor, citing the continuous crises that had burdened governments with debt, U.S. tariffs, the war in Ukraine and China’s threats to curb exports of critical raw materials.
The Greek banker argues that funding a common European defense and adopting a green energy transition are unachievable goals without a common bond, maintaining that the European economy cannot be competitive in the global market.
The chief of the country’s central bank underlines that while his views have the backing of the central banks of Germany and the Netherlands, it is time for the governments to support the decision.
“The present international environment has been a wake-up call to European policymakers,” said the 69-year-old central banker. “The resulting political momentum is certainly promising.”
His optimism, however, runs up against the continued opposition of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who categorically rejected the idea at last week’s European Union summit.
Stournaras declined, however, to say how much new debt would be needed to make a real change to financial conditions in Europe, but said there needs to be meaningful amounts of both short- and long-term issuance.
source politico.eu
