European Parliament: Catalan debt is Sovereign debt

The European Parliament voted today the Anuual report about the European central bank (ECB). The text includes two interesting ammed ammedents:

 

17. Believes that, on collateral rules, the same standards should apply for sovereign as for regional government bonds in those cases where regions have legislative and tax powers, as both types of bond have relevant influence on the good transmission of the ECB monetary policy.

 

20a (esmena 1): Acknowledges that since the monetary transmission mechanism is not funcioning properly, the ECB shoul seek ways to target SMEs more directly; points out that a present similar SMEs from across the eurozone do not have similar access to loans despite having similar economic prospects and risks; invites the ECB to implement a policy to purchase high-quality securitised SME loans directly, particularly from some Member States where the monetary transmissions mechanism is broken; stresses that this policy should be limited in amount and time, fully sterilised and directed to avoid risks on the ECB balance sheets.

 

The report was voted with 442 Yes and 88 against it with 40 abstentions and it means that Catalan debt will be considered Sovereign debt. as well as a very strong effort for SMEs which are the key of the Catalonian economy.

 

You can see the video of Speech by Ramon Tremosa i Balcells (ALDE MEP / Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) on European Central Bank annual report (2011).