CRI听力:Time for Eurobonds?

The European commission is facing stiff opposition from Germany.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has been a staunch opponent of a pan-European approach to raising capital, despite the potential "eurobonds" may have in stabilizing the markets in debt-ridden European nations.

"If at all, this discussion belongs at the end. So I don't find it particularly fitting that we are now once again conducting it in the middle of the crisis, as if it were the answer to this crisis. In the long term, it isn't."

However, Greece's new Prime Minister, Lucas Papademos, is taking the opposite tact.

He says "eurobonds" could help solve the euro zone debt crisis if used in co-ordination with other instruments.

"Eurobonds are a similar type of instrument that could provide the means that will help address the problems. However, they cannot be assessed in isolation, their potential effectiveness has to be seen within a broader framework of economic policy."

Greece's debt currently stands at a whopping 145 percent of its income.

Italy's is 118 percent.

Meanwhile, French President Nicholas Sarkozy is now embracing a German campaign for a treaty change that could give the European authorities the power to intervene in the national budgets of euro zone countries if they can't get their debt issues under control.

"There needs to be a genuine convergence in economic policies in the widest sense possible. That means a convergence in fiscal policies. With Mrs. Merkel, we will shortly make propositions regarding the modifications of treaties to prevent countries diverging in the fields of budgets, economies or fiscal matters."

Some economists argue that if all of the euro zone countries simply banded together and issued one common eurobond, they could placate nervous investors and put a stop to the ongoing market convulsions that are threatening to rip apart the euro right now.

The German government has been opposed to the move, given that as the largest economy in Europe, it would be forced to shoulder most of the repayments, particularly if country's like Greece and Italy aren't able to get their debt woes in check.

For CRI, this is Ding Lulu.