欧州危機拡大 市場が催促する首脳の抜本策

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Dec. 9, 2011)
EU heads must unite to resolve debt crisis
欧州危機拡大　市場が催促する首脳の抜本策（12月8日付・読売社説）

A tense two-day meeting that will determine whether the sovereign debt crisis in Europe can be resolved is finally starting.
　欧州危機を収束できるかどうか、いよいよ緊迫の２日間を迎える。

The meeting must devise a sweeping solution that will enable eurozone countries to regain market confidence.
市場の信認を取り戻す抜本策が求められよう。

A summit meeting of European Union members, including 17 eurozone states such as Germany and France, will be held Thursday and Friday in Belgium.
　独仏などユーロ圏１７か国を含む欧州連合（ＥＵ）首脳会議が、８、９日にベルギーで開かれる。

The European Central Bank is also to discuss financial policy on Thursday.
欧州中央銀行（ＥＣＢ）も８日、金融政策を話し合う。

The debt crisis has spilled over from Greece with its huge fiscal deficit to Italy, and is now spreading to Spain and France.
　欧州危機は、巨額の財政赤字を抱えたギリシャからイタリアに飛び火し、スペイン、フランスに拡大しつつある。

This is a serious situation.
深刻な事態だ。

Before the summit meeting, Standard & Poor's announced it was considering a possible downgrade on the credit ratings of long-term sovereign bonds issued by 15 eurozone countries, including six states such as Germany and France whose bonds are rated AAA.
　会議を前に、米格付け会社のスタンダード・アンド・プアーズ（Ｓ＆Ｐ）は、独仏など「トリプルＡ」の６か国を含むユーロ圏１５か国の長期国債格付けを引き下げ方向で見直すと発表した。

In addition, the U.S. rating agency warned it might cut the credit rating of bonds issued by the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which are guaranteed with the creditworthiness of the six states' bonds.
　さらに、６か国の保証を裏付けに欧州金融安定基金（ＥＦＳＦ）が発行する債券を格下げする方向も明らかにした。
The agency's announcement appears to illustrate its distrust of the reactions by the political sector, which have always been one step behind.
後手に回る政治の対応に不信を示した形だ。

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Fiscal rehabilitation needed

Leaders of EU countries should take this seriously as a warning from the market.
　欧州首脳らは、市場の警告を真摯(しんし)に受け止める必要がある。

If the summit meeting comes out with half-baked measures to deal with the debt crisis, S&P will go through with the downgrades.
　危機収束策が不十分なら、Ｓ＆Ｐは格下げに踏み切る。

This would aggravate the turmoil in financial markets and undermine the functions of the EFSF, which is supporting countries already in trouble from the debt crisis.
金融市場が一段と混乱し、危機国を支援するＥＦＳＦの機能も揺らぐ。

We must watch out for the negative chain reactions that could cause.
負の連鎖に要警戒だ。

A focus of the summit meeting is whether the participating countries can agree on a fiscal rehabilitation plan to stabilize the euro.
　首脳会議の焦点は、ユーロを安定させる財政健全化策である。

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have agreed on a plan to impose automatic sanctions against countries that exceed a fiscal deficit limit of 3 percent of their gross domestic product.
They will jointly propose revising the EU treaty at the summit meeting to bring this about.
　メルケル独首相とサルコジ仏大統領は、財政赤字を対ＧＤＰ（国内総生産）比３％以内に抑えるルールを破った国に自動的に制裁を科す方針で一致し、ＥＵ条約改正を会議に共同提案する。

It is a matter of course to stop free spending policies and enhance fiscal discipline.
　放漫財政を食い止め、財政規律を強化するのは当然だ。

We expect the eurozone countries to hammer out a clear policy based on the proposal by Germany and France toward the introduction of mutual surveillance of fiscal policies, which have never been coordinated among these countries.
独仏提案に沿い、欧州各国でバラバラだった財政の相互監視へ、明確な方針を打ち出してもらいたい。

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Stop spread of crisis

What is needed most are emergency measures to prevent the crisis from spreading any further.
　何より必要なのは、危機拡大を防ぐ緊急措置だ。

The eurozone countries decided at the end of October to expand the EFSF, reduce Greece's debts and strengthen the core capital of banks, but none of them has been carried out yet.
ユーロ圏が１０月末に決めたＥＦＳＦ拡大、ギリシャ債務削減、銀行資本増強はいまだに実施されていない。

If these measures are not implemented immediately, they may come too late.
遅きに失する恐れがあろう。

In relation to these measures, the role of the ECB will become more important.
　これらの対策と連動し、ＥＣＢの役割がますます重要になる。

In early November, immediately after its new President Mario Draghi, an Italian, assumed office, the bank cut its benchmark interest rate to 1.25 percent for the first time in 2-1/2 years.
　ＥＣＢは、イタリア出身のドラギ総裁が就任した直後の１１月初め、２年半ぶりに政策金利を引き下げて年１・２５％とした。

However, there are fears the European economy might slow down and register negative growth if the countries introduce austerity measures.
　各国が緊縮財政に取り組むと、欧州景気は減速し、マイナス成長に陥ることが懸念される。

The ECB would win praise if it considers an additional interest rate cut to support the economy.
景気下支えへ、ＥＣＢが追加利下げを検討する姿勢は歓迎されよう。

If the ECB buys up a large number of bonds from Italy and other countries, it will also be an effective measure to prevent the yields of government bonds from soaring and to soothe credit uneasiness in the market.
　国債利回りの急騰を抑え、信用不安を沈静化するには、ＥＣＢがイタリアなどの国債を大量に買い支える措置も有効だ。

The rest of the world is watching whether European countries can stand together and act quickly to deal with this crisis.
　欧州が結束し、急いで行動することを世界は注視している。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Dec. 8, 2011)
（2011年12月8日01時30分 読売新聞）