Austerity is out after the euro-area recession extended to a sixth quarter, but stimulus isn’t in.
That was the something-for-everyone message from European leaders at a summit in Brussels on Monday.
All touted a previously announced €6 billion ($7.7 billion), seven-year initiative to fight youth unemployment, now at 24%.
“National governments won’t put up more cash,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
“It’s not a matter of money,” Merkel told reporters after the summit. “It’s a matter of looking at how to spend this money most productively.”
In an interview Dieter Wemmer, Member of the Board of Management of Allianz SE, Europe's largest insurer which has assets totaling more than 500 billion euros said: "Basically today financial markets are being manipulated by the central banks".
"Although terms like "quantitative easing" and "financial repression" sound more moderate, this is essentially what they boil down to. But it will be tricky to break with the current monetary policy any time in the near future, especially since Japan has now also taken interest rate measures to join the global race to secure export opportunities by maintaining a currency that is as weak as possible."
"In the US, two-thirds of the financing for private companies comes from bonds and one-third from bank loans. In Europe, the ratio is the exact opposite. This is an area in which investors with a long-term focus could play a particularly significant role in supporting European trade and industry.”
EU-Digest
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