VIENNA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Europe should be concentrating on setting up a permanent safety net for member states rather than mulling longer-term ideas such as joint euro zone bonds, European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said. "The idea of a euro (zone) bond is not uninteresting in the long term. But the priority now is to implement suggestions in the short term," Nowotny, who also heads the Austrian National Bank, told journalists in a briefing on Friday.
"I think it is important to have a permanent safety net, a permanent instrument...I think it is also correct that in this whole European stability mechanism the aspect of private investor involvement is covered."
(Reporting by Michael Shields and Sylvia Westall; Editing by John Stonestreet)