The eurozone's exclusive club of nations with top credit ratings should band together to issue a single bond as part of efforts to combat the debt crisis, a top European Union official said. The idea, pushed by European Commission vice president Viviane Reding, is among options the EU's executive arm is exploring as it prepares to present a report on the feasibility of creating so-called "eurobonds," a spokeswoman said on Friday.
"The United States is also in a difficult situation but it doesn't have problems with the bond market because theirs is so large," Reding told the German daily Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung. "This is why I am proposing that all eurozone states with the best rating, - triple-A nations France, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, the Netherlands and Finland - combine their bond markets," the EU justice commissioner said.
Bringing together the public debt of nations with the healthiest finances would create "a rock in the middle of the storm," the outspoken Luxembourg politician said. A similar idea was invoked by a European Central Bank governor, Luxembourg central bank chief Yves Mersch, last week.