Germany is a reluctant supporter of the EU funds which are being used in the ‘bailout' of Ireland, and it insists on strict ‘austerity' conditions, concerned about risk and moral hazard.However, through its central bank, Germany is lending €325bn (December 2010) to other central banks in...

Since September 2015, the European Central Bank has been publishing Target2 balances of the eurozone national central banks. But this presents an incomplete picture of intra-eurosystem debts because it does not include those arising from the issue of banknotes.The ECB also plays down the...