According to Forbes:

Momentum grew on Saturday behind a proposed common European bond to help bolster fragile member states during the global economic crisis as the International Monetary Fund threw its weight behind the idea.

At this point in time it isn’t entirely clear who issued this particular “call”, but still, we’re up and running, and this one is gaining traction by the day. It would be nice to be able to say that all this started on a blog (see here) but in fairness Wolfgang Munchau was first off the block with the public call (followed perhaps by the Italian finance minister).

“We have a big player which is the European Union and there is no reason why it shouldn’t have its own way of financing and to issue bonds is a good idea,” IMF Managing-Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a news conference in Rome. “I really support this initiative,” he said. “It really depends on the European Commission and the EU authorities but I see no reason why the EU cannot do this.”

and of course Italy’s Giulio Tremonti is still pushing, but then as someone once said, he would wouldn’t he, since Italy’s debt to GDP is 105% and rising.