Brussels, 24/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - The head of Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, said on Tuesday 24 July 2012 that the eurozone is firmly committed to preserving financial stability in the eurozone. He was speaking after US credit rating agency Moody's changed the outlook for the AAA credit rating of Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to “negative” for the first time. In a press release, Juncker said that Eurogroup had taken note of Moody's decision, which confirms the highest rating awarded to several eurozone nations. He said this was due to the healthy fundamentals of the economies in question. The European Commission refused to comment on Tuesday.
Moody's rating warning is based on the view that there is a growing possibility that Greece will be forced to leave the single currency and Spain and Italy will request financial aid from the eurozone member states with healthier budgets and macroeconomics. If this were to happen, the knock-on effects would be serious. Finland, which has a strong economy and had negotiated reimbursement guarantees for the loans it has granted to Greece and is about to grant to Spain, has not been given a “negative outlook”. France and Austria were already on the negative outlook list - their credit rating will be re-evaluated later this year. (MB/transl.fl)