A bond to create infrastructures for the growth of the Continent

Euro project bonds for infrastructure and for growth have to be approved: they would be an excellent tool to make more modern and competitive the European economy. The Commission "will soon present options to introduce Eurobonds, some of which could be implemented within the terms of the current Treaty, other would require a Treaty change." This is what the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, said a speech to the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. He also reiterated that Eurobonds are not the "solution for all problems we face and it will come as an element of a comprehensive approach to further economic integration"

European Governments "must now demonstrate in a convincing way that they are serious," Barroso said, adding that in light of the crisis of the Euro-zone "it is not enough to make plans. It is action that counts." The Commission will present its green book on Eurobonds on November 23rd: it will give some possible options. The presentation of the green book is therefore just a first step of a process that will probably be long. The approval of this tool should instead be accelerated as it is useful to raise the funds necessary to implement infrastructure projects in research and in telecommunications, like for example broad-band.

The initiative, in addition to having bipartisan support in Italy, to the point that both Romano Prodi and Giulio Tremonti have more than once repeated its merits, has gathered strong consensus among scholars and also in many European chancelleries. So far the strongest opposition, since the days of Jacques Delors, has come from Berlin.

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