Germany said Wednesday it was not necessary to strengthen the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), while the European Commission called last week to the revaluation of all components of EFSF, including its size.
"He (EFSF) is far from exhausted.In saying that, all is said, "said the spokesman of the German government at a press conference.
The current capacity is 440 EFSF billion, increasing to $ 750 billion if we add the contributions of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, participating in bailouts of countries in the euro area.
The emergency EU summit on July 21 has dramatically reformed the EFSF into an embryonic "European Monetary Fund."
But European leaders have not committed one way that investors called for: EFSF give more firepower.
The fund, which borrows on the markets with the guarantee of the member states of the euro zone and then lend to countries in difficulty, has now committed at least 142 billion euros of aid, benefiting Greece, the Ireland and Portugal.This leaves 298 billion to meet future deadlines.
However, economists have calculated that a bailout would cost Spain EUR 290 billion and an emergency program for Italy would represent some 490 billion euros.
The pressure of the German electorate
Last week, the debt crisis in the euro area has experienced a new peak, yields greater than 6% stake in Spanish and Italian sovereign debt raising fears that Rome and Madrid in turn must seek the assistance of EFSF.
It was against this background that Brussels had called a reassessment of all components of the EFSF to convince markets that the euro area could resolve the debt crisis.
Since the beginning of the week, thanks to such repurchase obligations to 10 years in Italy and Spain by the European Central Bank, the financing costs borne by Italy and Spain returned to more affordable levels, around 5%.
The words of the spokesman for the German government illustrate the difficulties faced by Berlin to convince voters of the merits of the government's commitment in resolving the debt crisis in the euro area.
For example, nearly two-thirds of the conservative party of Angela Merkel are dissatisfied with the management of this crisis by the Chancellor, according to a poll released Wednesday.
Sixty-two percent of respondents say they are worried about the image returned by the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) and CSU (Christian Social Union), according to the survey of the Forsa institute for Stern magazine.
Approximately 52% of 578 members of both parties questioned in the survey said they opposed the bailout of the partners in Berlin in the euro area and only 42% approve of the plan of aid to Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
The survey was conducted on 4 and 5 August, before the lull caused by the acquisition of Italian and Spanish bonds by the ECB.
Fears that Germany's leading economic power in the euro area also enjoying growth prospects correct and historically low financing costs, pay the bulk of the bill for the debt crisis have resulted in an increase in German five-year CDS, which reached the level of CDS UK.