Eurozone Public Debt Crisis: ECB Bond Buying and the Setup of European Financial Stability Facility

The purpose of the present article is to briefly review two of the most important policy responses of EU authorities to the Eurozone public debt crisis: (1) ECB bond buying; and (2) the setup of European Financial Stability Facility with the special task of issuing Eurobonds. The Securities Markets Programme approved by ECB marks an important change in the ECB policy. According to European treatises, ECB must remain an independent bank, but since the beginning of the debt crisis, in early 2010, the ECB has been pressured by the Eurozone governments that encountered financial problems to purchase Eurozone government bonds. By surrendering to these requests, ECB is being accused that it became a political bank, like its American counterpart, the FED. The Eurobonds represent as well a controversial measure because they allow the already highly indebted countries to access new funds on behalf of other Eurozone countries with a relative better financial and economic situation. Also, another important problem is that both measures curtail incentives for prudence and responsible fiscal policies for countries that already proved lack of prudence and fiscal discipline.