VIENNA (AP) - Austria's finance minister is rejecting the idea of introducing jointly issued eurobonds any time soon and says that running up new debts to finance growth is "nonsense."
New French President Francois Hollande has revived talk of eurobonds, which could reduce troubled countries' borrowing costs. But Germany and others whose borrowing costs could increase are opposed.
Austria uses the euro, and its foreign minister, Maria Fekter, told Oe1 radio Saturday that "eurobonds are only attractive for those ailing countries that pay very high interest rates, who...go to the neighbor who has good creditworthiness and say, 'Dear neighbor, please pay my debts.'" Fekter added: "I don't want to pay the neighbors' credits."
Amid European differences about how to stimulate growth, she also insisted "growth from new debts is nonsense."