Zapatero laments German input in deepening euro-zone debt crisis

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http://www.elpais.com/articulo/english/Zapatero/laments/German/input/in/deepening/euro-zone/debt/crisis/elpepueng/20110712elpeng_12/Ten

Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero on Tuesday indirectly pointed the finger at Germany for sparking the latest bout of turbulence in the sovereign debt market by broaching the idea of private investors shouldering some of the burden in a second bailout for Greece.

In order to restore calm to the markets, "all of the countries in the euro zone have to accept responsibility, particularly the most powerful countries," Zapatero said at a joint news conference in Madrid with the visiting European Union President Herman van Rompuy.

Spain's risk premium hit a new euro-era high of over 375 basis points early on Tuesday before recovering to close at 314 points, down from Monday's closing level of around 335 basis points. That was still well above levels of around 150 basis points seen in July of last year.

The blue-chip Ibex 35 ended the session down 0.69 percent at 9,603.40 points after at one point having lost some four percent. The banks led the recovery, with most of them closing in positive territory as Santander put on 0.22 percent and BBVA 0.72 percent.