全球央行联手也拯救不了欧元

    债务危机重创欧洲经济，创口血如泉涌，欧洲领导人却只能眼睁睁地看着之前贴在伤口上的创可贴开始慢慢脱落。由于无法扩容至必需的规模，欧洲最大的救助基金、高达4,400亿欧元的欧洲金融稳定基金（European Financial Stability Facility）昨晚最终宣告无法为欧元区带来稳定，最大的一块创可贴也正式失效。基金负责人号召欧洲央行（European Central Bank）出台更多措施以稳定形势，不言而喻，这显然是在推卸责任。

    在美联储（US Federal Reserve）的牵头下，欧洲六大央行联手出招，将现有临时美元流动性互换安排的定价下调50个基点。然而，这一联合行动看起来不过是另外一张创可贴。虽然此番联合救市会降低欧洲银行的美元融资成本，也会令部分欧元区成员国不断攀升的债券收益率有所下降，但却解决不了根本问题。救市效果不会长久，也无法解决困扰欧元区的结构性财政问题。而且，这并不是各国央行第一次在金融危机中采取联合行动。根据以往的经验来判断，当市场发现根本问题并未解决之后，救市推动的市场上涨通常都是昙花一现。

    现在，解决欧洲债务危机似乎只有两种选择：一是欧洲央行充当整个欧元区的最后贷款人，二是将该地区成员国的债务集中起来，统一发行“欧洲债券”。

    从中短期来看，欧洲央行充当最后贷款人显然是解决债务危机最简单、最迅速的方法，但它不能解决欧元的核心问题，即财政一体化的缺失。而发行统一的欧洲债券需要一体化的财政，只有这样才可能解决核心问题。然而，欧洲各国的领导人是否愿意、或者说确实已经走投无路，只能把财政大权拱手交给欧盟？要知道，财政大权可以说是他们最重要的权力。

    关于如何发行欧洲债券，目前有几种方案。欧洲部分国家希望欧洲债券完全取代欧洲大陆所有的主权债务，这样一来融资风险就可以分散到欧元区全部17个成员国身上。但在这种情况下，意大利和希腊等高负债国家的借款利率会就从记录高点下降，而德国和荷兰等财政稳健国家的融资成本则会上升。

    这种局面对德国人来说有失公平，所以他们始终拒绝有关发行欧洲债券的任何对话。德国人认为，迫使他们勒紧腰带的唯一因素就是奢侈成员国（过度奢侈导致财政失衡，债台高筑---译注）的利率压力。不过，如果这些国家愿意把财政权交给欧盟，同时实施类似德国的平衡预算方案，最终德国似乎也愿意承担发行欧洲债券对融资成本造成的冲击。

    欧元区有关统一财政和货币政策的想法似乎能够最终缝合欧洲不断恶化的债务危机创伤，同时增强该地区的团结。但是，欧洲债券只不过体现这一想法的工具，而并非解决方案。即便如此，欧洲领导人仍对此犹豫不决。大量现有的欧洲债券构成方案看起来更像是创可贴式的权宜之计，而不是手术式的最终缝合。

    European leaders are watching the Band-Aids they stuck on the eurozone's gushing wound of debt start to peel off. The largest attempted fix, the 440 billion euro European Financial Stability Facility, finally fell off last night, after the fund announced that it would not be able to lever up to a level that could actually bring stability to the eurozone. The head of the EFSF called on the European Central Bank to do more to stabilize the situation, ostensibly passing the buck.

    Today's coordinated action by the central banks of developed nations, led by the US Federal Reserve, to lower the pricing on existing temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap arrangements by 50 basis points, looks like yet another Band-Aid. While this will make it cheaper for European banks to access critical dollar funding, and it will lower skyrocketing bond yields of some eurozone nations, it isn't a solution to the problem. The effects are temporary and do not address the structural fiscal problems plaguing the eurozone. And this isn't the first time there has been coordinated action between central banks during the financial crisis. The subsequent market rallies that accompany such moves usually fizzle out after it becomes clear that the root of the problem still exists.

    Solving the European crisis seems to have devolved into a binary choice whereby either the European Central Bank becomes the lender of last resort for the entire eurozone or the zone's nations pool their debt and issues joint "eurobonds."

    The ECB choice is clearly the easiest and fastest way to put an end to this crisis in the short to medium term, but it doesn't solve the common currency's core problem -- its lack of fiscal integration. The issuance of a common debt instrument would require such fiscal integration, ostensibly extinguishing the core problem. But are European politicians ready, or indeed desperate enough, to hand over the power of the purse, arguably their greatest power, to bureaucrats in Brussels?

    There are several proposals floating about as to how the eurobond could become a reality. There are constituents in Europe that want the eurobond to totally replace all sovereign debt in the continent, therefore spreading out the funding risk to all 17 members of the euro. This would see the borrowing rates of deeply indebted nations, like Italy and Greece, drop from their record highs, while countries with strong balance sheets, like Germany and the Netherlands, would see their rates rise.

    Such a scenario seems unfair to the Germans, which have repeatedly blocked any talk of issuing eurobonds. They believe that the interest rate pressure on profligate nations is the only thing that is forcing them to actually tighten their belts. But the Germans finally seem open to taking a hit in interest rates if those nations give up their fiscal authority to the EU and take on a German-like balanced budget solution.

    This idea of melding the eurozone's fiscal and monetary policies seems to be the stitch that will finally seal Europe's growing debt wound and bind the continent together. The eurobond is simply the vehicle by which this idea is manifested, it isn't the solution. But European leaders are still hesitant to give in. There are a number of eurobond structures floating about that seem to be more Band-Aid than stitch.