Euro Ministers Bid for Bigger IMF Role as Fund Falls Short
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European finance ministers said they would seek a greater role for the International Monetary Fund alongside their own bailout fund in their latest gamble at taming the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis.
Ministers turned to the IMF after conceding that higher interest rates and lower appetite for European bonds made it impossible for the European Financial Stability Facility to be leveraged up to its 1 trillion euro ($1.3 trillion) target. Meeting in Brussels, the ministers also suggested that any IMF help or increase in bond purchases by the EFSF, and possibly by the ECB, depends on a Dec. 9 summit of heads of government accepting German demands for governance changes that would tighten enforcement of budget rules.