Accused of aggravating the eurozone debt crisis, credit rating agencies should be called to account, MEPs Miguel Portas and Wolf Klinz believe.

Credit rating agencies under close supervision - Miguel Portas, Wolf Klinz

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/15627596/N001-110606-001-ENa.srt

Accused of aggravating  the eurozone debt crisis,

credit rating agencies are again in MEPs'  sights in this Monday’s plenary session.

Miguel Portas  from the European United Left

and Wolf Klinz  from the Liberals and Democrats.

Must public debt be removed from  the credit rating agencies' evaluations?

I think it's the main urgent measure  needed to safeguard the euro

from the speculation against the weak  or weakest countries in the eurozone.

I wouldn’t go that far, but  I submitted an own-initiative report,

In it I say that this excessive dependence  on credit rating agencies is a mistake,

and I do not believe it's right that banks,  insurers and other institutional investors

What role should  the European Central Bank have?

is a direct consequence  of a euro governance model

in which the ECB can provide loans  to private banks but not to states.

That's incredible, because the ECB  can give money to Hungary, for example,

But it cannot do this for countries like  Portugal or Greece as they have the euro.

Hold on a moment, the ECB has made  money available to Greece and Portugal.

It buys government bonds.  This is a way of making money available.

When it comes to giving ratings,  the ECB should not assume this role,

but I do know people who want the Bank  to carry out this type of activity.

Some even say that it should be a job  for the Court of Auditors.