No Voting rights for Germany – Whilst ECB’s Draghi decided to cut rates and boost QE Germany’s Jens Weidmann was not allowed to vote ECB’s decision to pay money to banks if they finally increase their lending business as well as the purchase of corporate bonds within the PSPP (Public Sector Purchase Programme) has encountered in Germany’s financial and academic community almost unanimous disapproval. Moreover the German public follows Draghi’s policy with rapidly growing distrust. Had the Germans known, [...]
Right Wing Staff for Left Wing Policy? The Polish Central Bank enters a new Era – from Warsaw reports Markus C. Kerber The appointment by President Duda of the two remaining members for the Council of Monetary Policy – the strategic steering instance of Poland’s Central Bank NBP – has accomplished the total renewal of the leading staff of Poland’s monetary policy makers. NBP’s President Marek Belka who contrary to his predecessor Skrzypek is internationally recognized as [...]
Is the ECB out of control? In the German constitutional court ECB member of the board Yves Mersch qualifies European Monetary Union as a fully fledged community of liability. The president of the German constitutional court Andreas Voßkuhle had summoned the different attorneys in the early morning of 16 February to plan the audience of the day. He suggested that in early afternoon [...]
Centralbankism encounters strong resistance. Why in the light of lacklustre results the faith in central banks is fading away February 25, 2016 The great monetary experiment, as Brendan Brown calls the Fed’s quantitative easing (QE) programme, is under only minimal intellectual pressure in the US, despite modest results. The upswing in the US economy seems robust, in stark contrast with the poor performance of its European disciple the ECB. The Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP) as its first [...]
Is the European Central Bank out of control? February 25, 2016 In the German constitutional court last week, ECB board member Yves Mersch made a bold statement. He declared member states of the EU to be mutually financially liable for each other. The president of the court Andreas Voßkuhle had summoned attorneys to take part in what became a heated debate about the legality of outright monetary transactions (OMT) policy. [...]
Kaczynki’s Law and Justice Party are undermining the Polish central bank’s independence, paving the way to populist left wing policy February 16, 2016 As Henryk Kowalczyk, a committed Kaczynki follower and MP said in October, the ruling party would need a period of monetary easing to implement its promises in social policy by increased public expenditure. When in December, the party’s wish-list for future members of the council of monetary policy was published, Poland was surprised to learn of [...]
By redefining the list of public securities eligible for purchase through the QE back door, the ECB has transformed the euro rescue mechanisms into a Ponzi scheme December 21, 2015 Before and after Mario Draghi’s last press conference, the professional public focused on the scale and duration of the Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP). Meanwhile, critical observers of the ECB had already taken a close look at the inner workings of the programme. Interestingly enough, the ECB from the very beginning of QE, made it clear [...]
Is Poland now joining the Romanian path? If the Law and Justice party monopolises Poland’s monetary institutions, the economy could fail December 18, 2015 This week, a striking event in Warsaw caught the European public eye. Thousands of Polish citizens protested against the revocation of three judges of the constitutional court by the freshly elected President Duda. Although Parliament had appointed these judges before the election, Duda made use of his prerogative to remove all three from their positions. The [...]
A covert QE programme conducted by Eurozone national central banks since 2008? Draghi’s ECB is wrestling for answers after stockpiling revelations December 14, 2015 From time to time, academic surveillance of the financial world produces very practical, policy-related outcomes. Such is the case of a dissertation presented in early 2015 at Berlin Technology University, which investigated the ECB’s crisis policy measures since 2007. It revealed that some national central banks – in particular, Banque de France, Banca d’Italia and Banco [...]
EU referendum: British commissioner Jonathan Hill could be harming the UK just at the crucial pre-Brexit moment December 1, 2015 While David Cameron recently released his unambitious ideas for renegotiating the terms of the British membership in the EU, British commissioner Jonathan Hill seems keener to focus on building an ever-closer banking union. Although he is aware of Germany’s fundamental opposition to mutualising deposit insurance, he strongly advocates a project which will fuel the revolt of German depositors against [...]
