Sweden Shouldn’t Pay More to Borrow Than Germany, Borg Says

Anders, you do have their own currency, mate…

Sweden Shouldn’t Pay More to Borrow Than Germany, Borg Says

March 9 (Bloomberg) — Sweden shouldn’t pay more to borrow than Germany because of its strong public finances and low level of debt, Finance Minister Anders Borg said.

“Sweden will probably have a stronger recovery eventually than Germany and then interest rates eventually ought to rise above Germany’s due to, so to speak, economic-cycle reasons,” Borg said in an interview in Stockholm yesterday. “But in the long-term they ought to be on par or slightly below.”

EU Should Create Euro-Area Monetary Fund

They already have one that can deal with it operationally.
It’s called the ECB.

And my annual per capita distribution of 5% of GDP to the member nations remains the only viable, sustainable solution I’ve seen.

EU Should Create Euro-Area Monetary Fund, Sweden’s Borg Says

By Johan Carlstrom

March 9 (Bloomberg) — The European Union should consider
creating a body similar to the International Monetary Fund to
help distressed euro-area members and sharpen fiscal discipline
in the bloc, Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg said.

“It’s good if we get an organization that can more
concretely help countries with financial problems,” Borg said
at the office of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt in Stockholm
today. “Most important, of course, is that we tighten the rules
to make sure that euro countries that are misbehaving cease to
do so.”

The European Commission, the EU executive in Brussels,
yesterday said it’s drawing up plans for a lender of last resort,
or a European Monetary Fund, as leaders try to draw lessons from
the Greek fiscal crisis. Borg said the EU also needs to find
ways to enforce more rigorously the Stability and Growth Pact
rules, which stipulate budget deficits shouldn’t exceed 3
percent of gross domestic product.

If budget rules are breached, the EU needs to consider
imposing “sanctions,” Borg said.

Marking a potential split among EU leaders, French Finance
Minister Christine Lagarde said an EMF may not be the best way
to support fiscally distressed countries. Consideration
shouldn’t be “limited to a European Monetary Fund,” Lagarde
said today. “Other ideas need to be studied and those that
respect the Lisbon treaty are much preferable.”