The eurozone is for ever taking two steps backwards, so it is a relief when it takes a small one forward. Monday’s decision by the bloc’s finance ministers that the European stability mechanism, the eurozone’s permanent bail-out mechanism, will not have preferred creditor status, is an example. It was a mistake to put such a hulking creditor second only to the International Monetary Fund in the recovery queue. Policymakers should have foreseen that this would make private investors reluctant to buy sovereign bonds: they would be stuck with whatever was left after the ESM was made good. Two cheers for a sensible U-turn.
歐元區總是在後退兩步，因此當它向前邁出一小步時外界頗感安慰。週一歐元區財長做出決定，歐元區永久性紓困機制歐洲穩定機制(ESM)將不會取得優先債權人的地位，這就是一個例子。讓這個如此龐大的債權人在獲得補償的隊伍中排在僅次於國際貨幣基金組織(IMF)的位置，是一個錯誤。決策者本應預見到，這將令私人投資者不願購買主權債券：他們只能得到ESM獲得償付之後剩下的殘羹剩飯。爲這一明智的政策大轉變歡呼兩聲吧。