The European Central Bank has helped assuage fears of an imminent eurozone breakup, but sovereign, supranational and agency debt management officials must still contend with ratings downgrades and difficult political and fiscal situations in a number of countries. The Banker hears from a range of EU issuers both inside and outside the eurozone.
Romania's entrance into the EU was met not with the domestic economic development many had predicted, but with a global recession, which sent the country's economy into decline and severely narrowed its banking sector's avenues of growth. Now, the country must overcome a series of challenges if it is to achieve the economic maturity it had envisaged.
Hit hard during the financial crisis, the Romanian government was the first in the EU to successfully complete an International Monetary Fund loan programme, without even needing to draw the whole loan. Secretary of state for finance Bogdan Dragoi explains his government’s strategy.
Greek banks control at least a fifth of the banking markets in Bulgaria and Romania but, despite this exposure to one of Europe's more troubled economies, bankers in the two countries believe there will still be a sufficient supply of credit to meet demand. Writer Philip Alexander
Over the past decade, Greece's leading banks have expanded into south-east Europe. To remain competitive, however, they will now need to weather the financial storm and continue to focus on increasing their presence in the Balkans and the rest of eastern Europe. Writer Kerin Hope
In theory, joining the EU should force a country to adopt greater policy discipline. In practice, Romania’s muddy political waters and an appetite for spending are about to magnify its vulnerabilities, putting fiscal and monetary policy at odds, writes Adina Postelnicu.