Brussels, 31/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 31 March, the group of experts examining potential ways of pooling eurozone debt concluded that “both a debt redemption fund and eurobills would have their merits in stabilising government debt markets, supporting monetary policy transmission and promoting financial stability and integration, although in different ways and with different long-term implications. However, these merits would be coupled with economic, financial and moral hazard risks, and the trade-offs would depend on various design options”. Without EU Treaty amendments, joint issuance schemes could be established only in a pro rata form, and - at least for the debt redemption fund/pact - only through a purely intergovernmental construction, which would raise democratic accountability issues. Treaty amendments would be necessary to set up joint issuance schemes including joint and several liability, certain forms of protection against moral hazard and appropriate attention to democratic legitimacy, the report says. After six months of study, the experts headed by Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell say that treaty amendments would be necessary to set up joint issuance schemes including joint and several liability, certain forms of protection against moral hazard and appropriate attention to democratic legitimacy. The report says that the benefits would be accompanied by financial and economic risk and moral hazard, with the risk/benefit ratio varying according to the type of pooling process used. Reform of eurozone economic governance is at the early stages, so the report says “it may be considered prudent to first collect evidence on the efficiency of that governance before any decisions on schemes of joint issuance are taken”. The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, says that the Commission will now decide how to follow up on the report in due course. Euro Commissioner Olli Rehn said that more solidarity should be coupled with more budget responsibility. (EL)