Brussels, 25/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - “I think there are pro arguments for this”, (this being giving the European Stability Mechanism - ESM, the eurozone's new bailout fund, a bank licence) said Ewald Nowotny, member of the European Central Bank's Governing Council, in an interview with Bloomsberg on Wednesday 25 July. This would give the ESM, which currently has a budget of €500 billion, access to the ECB's virtually unlimited coffers. Nowotny said: “There are also other arguments, but I would see this as an on-going discussion”, although he was “not aware of specific discussions within the ECB at this point.”
Italy, Spain and France want the ESM to be given a bank licence, but Germany is strongly opposed. The ECB president, Mario Draghi, rejected the idea at the recent ECB Governing Council meeting (see EUROPE 10649), saying that the ECB must not exceed its mandate (see EUROPE 10649). The European Commission points out that the ESM ratification process is currently underway and the ESM treaty being ratified makes no mention of such an option. The ESM will not come on stream until Germany's Karlsruhe constitutional court issues a ruling, expected on 12 September (see EUROPE 10656). (EL/transl.fl)