Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Finance his views on whether there will be agreement on eurobonds at the next EU Council meeting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33236/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The European Commission published a discussion document in November 2011 on options for Eurobonds (which it called Stability Bonds). It put forward three options:

(1) the full substitution of Stability Bond issuance for national issuance, with joint and several guarantees;

(2) the partial substitution of Stability Bond issuance for national issuance, with joint and several guarantees; and

(3) the partial substitution of Stability Bond issuance for national issuance, with several but not joint guarantees.

Eurobonds in principle would offer Member States like Ireland a cheap form of market access and we would be supportive of the proposal in principle. However, it should be noted that the introduction of Eurobonds, in whatever form, would not reduce the need to bring the public finances under control and to reduce the debt to a manageable level. In fact, it is likely that any agreement on their introduction would also involve common structures to ensure control of public finances in Member States and a greater degree of fiscal and economic integration.

As a contribution to the debate, the recent paper by the "Four Presidents" on the deepening of Economic and Monetary Union states that "in a medium-term perspective, the issuance of common debt could be explored as an element of such a fiscal union and subject to progress on fiscal integration".