EU slams US credit rating 'oligopoly'

From: AlJazeeraEnglish | Jul 14, 2011

While the US finds itself in danger of a credit ratings downgrade due to a national debt crisis, a number of European countries have seen their status fall even further.

Stand & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch - the three largest US-based credit rating agencies - have been criticised by European policymakers who say they have been too quick to downgrade indebted EU states during the euro zone debt crisis.

Rainer Bruederle, the head of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition partners in parliament, has put forward a proposal on Friday to to launch a privately funded, independent European agency to break the dominance of the three main US houses, according to Handelsblatt, a German newspaper.

"Trust in the statements of the opinion-oligopoly of the three largest U.S. agencies is one of the reasons that risks in financial markets became known too late," the business daily quoted him as saying.