Rating agencies
-
United Kingdom: A-A-Another one bites the dust
25 February 20135216 The Times London -
Rating agencies: European Parliament tightens the screws
17 January 2013459PresseuropLa Vanguardia, De Standaard -
Rating agencies: EU imposes new restrictions
28 November 2012459PresseuropLes Echos -
Debt crisis: France’s elites are in denial
20 November 201234883 Die Welt Berlin -
Eurozone: Germany’s triple A rating under threat
24 July 20125967PresseuropLe Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung -
Portrait: Markus Krall, alone against the Big Three
16 March 201216520 Die Zeit Hamburg
On February 22, the UK became the latest European nation to lose its platinum AAA credit worthiness status when rating agency Moody’s downgraded the country to Aa1. It’s an embarrassment to PM David Cameron, but not a shock to the markets, notes The Times, which encourages the government to continue the austerity policy. 
Accused of sticking its head in the sand over the crisis, France has been downgraded by Moody's and become the biggest problem child in Europe. To the political elite in Paris, though, all that doesn’t matter, writes an author from Berlin in the conservative Welt. 
The EU daydream of breaking the Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch Group monopoly on credit ratings may become a reality if a lone German consultant succeeds in creating a European ratings agency.