The European commission faces stiff opposition from Germany on Wednesday when it unveils plans to tackle the spiralling sovereign debt crisis with bonds jointly issued by eurozone nations.
Commission president José Manuel Barroso is expected to argue strongly for stability bonds, also known as eurobonds, against a backdrop of soaring borrowing costs and shattered confidence around Europe.
He must then take his plan to French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel, who has already made clear she does not see eurobonds as a solution worth considering at this stage in the crisis.
"If at all, this discussion belongs at the end so I don't find it particularly fitting that we are now once again conducting it in the middle of the crisis, as if it were the answer," Merkel said. "In the long term, it isn't." » | Katie Allen and Graeme Wearden | Tuesday, November 22, 2011
