Sweden Finance Minister says EU Need Monetary Expansion From the ECB

Friday, 22 June 2012
LUXEMBOURG--European finance ministers need to focus on resolving the banking crisis in Spain and encouraging the European Central Bank to be more active in supporting growth rather than engaging in debates over some kind of EU banking union, Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg said Friday.
"I think we should concentrate on first things first: reducing uncertainty and restoring credibility of the Spanish banking system, then we can go on to a discussion for a year or two on a banking union," he told reporters on his way into a meeting of EU finance ministers.
"But if we don't deal with the most urgent issues--and those are the Spanish banking system getting recapitalized and getting some monetary expansion out of the ECB--all these other discussions are very theoretical," Mr. Borg said.
He said it would be "very good if the ECB could provide liquidity, if it could boost growth."
He said questions about whether the ECB would eventually supervise a more unified European banking system can be dealt with at a later stage.
Mr. Borg also reiterated his country's strong opposition to a financial transactions tax saying it would "increase borrowing costs and...have a negative impact on European growth."
News source: Dow Jones News

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