Francois Hollande, the candidate for the French presidency from the Socialist party, is among the highest pofile Europeans calling for the European Central Bank intervention:
"Speaking in an interview at his campaign's headquarters in central Paris, Mr. Hollande, 57 years old, said only the ECB has enough credibility and financial firepower to restore investor confidence and unravel the debt crisis that has been roiling the euro zone for two years."
As I said previously, my opposition to such proposals, first of all, from the impossibility to realize them in practice over the opposition of German chancellor Angela Merkel and the ECB head Mario Draghi. This means that any talk about the ECB intervention, the Eurobonds and printing of more money has everything to do with politics and nothing to do with reality.
Mr. Holland, however, may be excused: he is running for the French presidency against Nicholas Sarkozy, who so far has teamed with Merkel and Draghi. In addition, Hollande's position is consistent with the general socialist views that he is supposed to represent, and he is honest about the low likelihood of such policies being implemented:
"Mr. Hollande said he was well aware that Germany would staunchly oppose any attempt to amend the ECB's core mandate: to keep inflation in check. He said that were he to be elected president next year, however, he would still ask that the ECB play a bigger role in stemming the crisis within the framework of current bylaws."
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