BRUSSELS, Belgium — French President Francois Hollande says the leaders of the 17 countries that use the euro are holding an unplanned meeting in the middle of the night to talk about emergency measures that might lower the borrowing rates of Italy and Spain.
Leaders of those two countries say their current borrowing rates are unsustainable. And they have refused to give their final approval to a proposed 120-billion euro (US$149-billion) stimulus plan unless immediate measures are taken to help them.
Hollande also said early Friday that discussions on the future deepening of the Europe’s economic and monetary union, as proposed by four senior EU officials, had been put off until October.
The clash highlighted tensions between northern creditor countries and heavily indebted southern states over the future shape of the troubled 17-nation currency bloc, now in the third year of a sovereign debt crisis.
“There’s no blockage, we keep on working and we move on,” he told a belated news conference, playing down the row.Hours later than planned, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy came out to announce a deal in principle on measures to stimulate infrastructure investment and give more capital to the EU’s soft-lending arm, the European Investment Bank.
However, Hollande confirmed that Italy and Spain had withheld approval of the growth pact until eurozone leaders agree short-term measures to stabilise markets, but said he expected a deal on Friday.
Financial Post
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