Speaker
Description
Issuing eurobonds, mostly 30 years government bonds, is a right that the European Commission has according to the European Treaty.
It does not need prior approval as long as the own means of the EU are not increased because of the loans. The European Commission uses this right already since 1976 so eurobonds are nothing new. In 1977 the European Commission issued eurobonds, or EU bonds as it calls them, to finance energy independence of the EU, then EEC, through nuclear energy.
It can be expected that the European Commission will at some point use eurobonds to refinance the debt of Member States above 60%. This is also necessary to establish the capital market union through common safe assets. This refinancing operation will take place through a new European Treasury Agency and take several years as an amount of about 4000 billion euro has to be financed through auctions and syndicated loans as is usually done.
