Debt financing of the EU budget should therefore remain a clearly defined crisis measure and should not open the door to permanent EU debt. Europe can function very well indeed without large-scale transfers between Member Page 15 of 19 Deutsche Bundesbank, Directorate General Communications Wilhelm-Epstein-Strasse 14, 60431 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, tel.
In these circumstances, short and long-term contracted interest rates on new loans and discounts (up to June) have moved at record low levels. On the stock exchange, the Nikkei 225 stock average moved at around ¥ - 21,000 between May and July 1997, but later declined, reflecting such factors as the fall in U.S. stock prices.