By Matina Stevis
LUXEMBOURG--European finance ministers need to focus on
resolving the banking crisis in Spain and encouraging the European
Central Bank to be more active in supporting growth rather than
engaging in debates over some kind of EU banking union, Swedish
Finance Minister Anders Borg said Friday.
"I think we should concentrate on first things first: reducing
uncertainty and restoring credibility of the Spanish banking
system, then we can go on to a discussion for a year or two on a
banking union," he told reporters on his way into a meeting of EU
finance ministers.
"But if we don't deal with the most urgent issues--and those are
the Spanish banking system getting recapitalized and getting some
monetary expansion out of the ECB--all these other discussions are
very theoretical," Mr. Borg said.
He said it would be "very good if the ECB could provide
liquidity, if it could boost growth."
He said questions about whether the ECB would eventually
supervise a more unified European banking system can be dealt with
at a later stage.
Mr. Borg also reiterated his country's strong opposition to a
financial transactions tax saying it would "increase borrowing
costs and...have a negative impact on European growth."
Write to Matina Stevis at Matina.Stevis@dowjones.com