Threat of European downgrade may spur action

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Standard & Poor’s downgrade warning for 15 European governments will spur leaders to ratchet up efforts to resolve the debt crisis at a Dec. 8-9 summit, Bloomberg reported. A day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy strengthened their joint push for new rules to tighten euro-area economic cooperation, Schaeuble said that S&P’s warning was the “best encouragement” to drive toward a solution at the European Union summit in Brussels. “The truth is that markets in the whole world right now don’t trust the euro area at all,” Schaeuble said today in Vienna. S&P’s statement will prompt European leaders “to do what we’ve promised, namely to take the necessary decisions step-by-step and to win back the confidence of global investors.”

 

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Standard & Poor’s downgrade warning for 15 European governments will spur leaders to ratchet up efforts to resolve the debt crisis at a Dec. 8-9 summit, Bloomberg reported. A day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy strengthened their joint push for new rules to tighten euro-area economic cooperation, Schaeuble said that S&P’s warning was the “best encouragement” to drive toward a solution at the European Union summit in Brussels. “The truth is that markets in the whole world right now don’t trust the euro area at all,” Schaeuble said today in Vienna. S&P’s statement will prompt European leaders “to do what we’ve promised, namely to take the necessary decisions step-by-step and to win back the confidence of global investors.”