Italy does approach the point of no return? Some finance ministers could not help looking up to heaven on Tuesday, after a new camera in Brussels, while two indicators concern for the future of the single currency were turning to red: the level interventions of the ECB to calm the markets and the cost at which borrows the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), which constitutes the first line of defense if Italy were to switch after Greece, Portugal and Ireland.
The ministers of the euro seems to have learned anything from their Italian counterpart Giulio Tremonti, who came to Brussels to plead the cause of a Berlusconi government now condemned. "Markets drink the cup for a week, but Rome means the same song," laments a spokesman. Italy, in turn, "enters the vicious circle", continues a senior official.On another front to defend the euro, the EFSF has faced 104 basis points above the rate paid on its debt (3.59%) to place its 3 billion euros of bonds. The bailout fund retains its AAA, but it seems already sealed by the ball Italian. "The cordon sanitaire erected around Greece is showing signs of collapse, 'says a senior official.
Specter of a meltdown
The establishment of the famous "firewall", arrested Oct. 26 at the top of the euro, was precisely the issue of the appointment of the Eurogroup in Brussels. After the political decision, it remains to fill the coffers of the EFSF new way: European budgets are already in the grip and large foreign investors reluctant to buy its bonds in an atmosphere poisoned by the specter of a collapse in Italy.
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