France’s finance minister wants to calm fears of a new euro crisis.
(Photo: Reuters)
Brussels France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has countered fears of a new euro crisis. “I’m not worried,” he said in an interview with Handelsblatt and other European newspapers. “Europe is strong.”
Le Maire said he had “complete confidence” in ECB President Christine Lagarde and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. They would make the right decisions to bring rising interest rates on Italian government bonds back under control.
After the European Central Bank (ECB) announced the first interest rate hikes in more than ten years last week, the risk premiums on the government bonds of several southern European countries rose sharply. The spread between the ten-year Bund and the Italian paper is now 250 basis points.
On Wednesday, the Governing Council of the ECB was forced to convene a special meeting for the first time since the beginning of the corona crisis in order to calm the markets. The central bank said it was working on a new monetary policy “instrument” to prevent the “fragmentation” of the monetary union.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Read on now
Get access to this and every other article in the
Web and in our app free of charge for 4 weeks.
Continue
Read on now
Get access to this and every other article in the
Web and in our app free of charge for 4 weeks.
Continue