EU rightly criticises rating agencies

This week the EU Commission proposed that a new European regulating authority should monitor the business of rating agencies. The daily Le Quotidien writes that the agencies bear partial responsibility for the crisis: "It is no accident that fingers are now being pointed at the agencies. In all probability they turned a blind eye to the 'subprime' time bomb. ... They brusquely downgraded Greece's rating and cast suspicion on Spain and Portugal. To arm themselves against the agencies' damaging effects, some are proposing striking at the root of the evil, at least on a state level. ... [President of the Euro Group] Jean-Claude Juncker and [economist] Jacques Attali have agreed on an option that could improve the relatively inefficient European budget policies in the Eurozone by issuing European treasury bonds. The idea ... could come into effect just at a time when Europe must protect itself from speculators."

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