Moody’s Raise The Prospect Of EU and Maintains AAA rating

The rating agency Moody's announced on Friday in a renewed optimism for the finances of the European Union (EU), including pointing out the “decrease " risk to the debt crisis in the Euro area. The U.S. agency, which evaluates the creditworthiness of debt issuers, first confirmed the triple "AAA" assigned to the European Union, the maximum score that allows theory to borrow at lower cost in market. It does not, however, stop there and moved from "negative” to "stable" perspective of the EU, indicating that it was considering lowering the rating most in the medium term.

Criticized for its competitors to errors of judgment during the 2007-2008 financial crisis, Moody and seems to embody the improvement on the Old Continent, and more specifically in the Euro area which emerged from a long recession in mid -2013. In its statement, the agency asserts that the risks to the Euro area “declined" to reduce the pressure, the quality of financial assets in the region and on the creditworthiness of the whole of the Union.

Supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Union had to come to the rescue of several countries in the Euro zone (Greece, Ireland , Portugal, Cyprus ) by bailing with billions of Euros in loans between 2010 and 2011 to avoid bankruptcy. Ireland was the first to overcome the international financial assistance in December and will soon be joined by Portugal. According to the agency, the risks that these two countries fail to repay their loans to the relief fund of the EU “decreased”. In support of its decision, Moody's also cites “improving the solvency “of key member states of the European Union, which had been involved in these large bailouts.

In recent weeks, the agency has identified "negative” to “stable" outlook from several European countries still enjoying the “AAA" rating including Germany and the Netherlands. Moody's was also more optimistic for countries hit hard by the debt crisis as Italy and Spain, which benefited from a bank recapitalization plan. The rating of the EU would be particularly sensitive to changes which could affect the top four contributors to the European Union, including France.

In its statement, the agency does not curiously referred to Greece, which is the epicenter of the debt crisis in the Euro area, while the country is still under financial infusion and continues to worry its international creditors. The EU and IMF blocked a new loan in the country since mid-2013 on the grounds that Athens refuses to make further cuts in its public finances. In summer 2011, the United States had been stripped of their triple-A by Standard and Poor's but had nevertheless continued to borrow from financiers in the markets at historically low rates.