Der Spiegel: Why ECB's Tricks Won't Solve the Crisis

[marmar]

Ever since the European Central Bank began flooding the markets with cheap money, European banks have rediscovered their taste for sovereign bonds. But the crisis is far from over, as Standard and Poor's recent raft of downgrades showed. Some bankers are saying it's just a matter of time before yields on peripheral bonds shoot up again. By SPIEGEL Staff

During his first press conference of the year, European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi had been talking about the precarious state of the euro zone for almost half an hour when someone in the audience asked about Peer Steinbrück.

The former German finance minister had more or less said that the ECB was the EU's only functioning institution and that it had to get more involved in managing the ongoing crisis. With a forgiving smile, Draghi closed his long response by saying that "obviously we are always very pleased when people say that the ECB is the only institution that works."

Although it hasn't even been three months since Draghi stepped down as the Bank of Italy's governor to take over the reins of the ECB, he exudes the confidence of someone who has everything under control -- and not only in relation to the ECB, where he has reshuffled responsibilities on its governing council, but also in terms of the euro crisis. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,809374,00.html