Majority of Germans reject joint eurozone bonds
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Xinhua, November 26, 2011
Not only Chancellor Angela Merkel, but also most Germans are opposed to introducing euro bonds, an idea that has been proposed by European Commission and widely called for by investors, latest poll showed Friday.
A poll released by the German public televised ZDF showed that 79 percent of respondents objected to the euro bond, while only 15 percent were in favor of it.
On Thursday, Merkel burst market's illusion that she will soften her stance on the bond after attending a mini-summit with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. The chancellor said "nothing has changed compared to what I said earlier", and talking about such bonds is "unnecessary."
Hours before the European Commission outlined three main options for the so-called "stability bonds" on Wednesday, Merkel warned that the proposal from Brussels was "extremely worrying and inappropriate."
The German government has long resist the euro bond, an instrument that market believed could quickly ease the turmoil with relatively low risk. German officials insisted that issuance of euro bonds would disengage indebted countries to fix their fiscal problems and start structural reform.
Some analysts said that Germany, Europe's strongest economy, also fears that once releasing euro bonds, the country would immediately lose its hard-earned low borrowing costs and its financial reputation would be dragged down by other overspending nations.
The ZDF poll showed that Merkel's hard-line position has drawn applause at home -- 63 percent of Germans thought Merkel is doing a good job in dealing with the debt crisis, a strong surge compared with only 45 percent in early October.
The proportion of those believing the chancellor has done a bad job dropped from 46 percent one month ago to just 29 percent, the poll added.
The interviews were conducted by telephone from Nov. 22 to 24 with 1,276 randomly selected registered German voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus three points.
