Writing on the Eurointelligence blog, Financial Times columnist Wolfgang Munchau says that:
"[...] on Tuesday, 30 September 2008, when Brian Cowen, the Irish prime minister, gave a blanket guarantee for the entire banking sector. His decision bounded the other eurozone leaders into following suit. The rest is history.
I would go as far as to classify the decision as one of the most catastrophic political decision taken in post-war Europe. This not so much because of the decision itself – it was necessary to stop the rot at the time – but because of a lack of action to embed the decision into a strategy to solve the problems of the banking sector – lack of capitalisation, abundance of toxic assets, poor management, and of course, excessive size. The consequences of that strategy will only become apparent in the years to come." You can read the rest of the piece here.
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