Mario Draghi and Germany’s Fiscal Fetish
The European Central Bank is under sustained political attack from Germany, a country that has long prided itself on defending the principle of central-bank independence. But, with monetary policy having replaced fiscal policy as the key policy tool to stimulate growth, might the old dogma be outdated?
FRANKFURT – The European Central Bank is under heavy attack in Germany, a country that has long prided itself on defending the principle of central-bank independence. Indeed, it was Germany that pushed for this principle’s inclusion among the criteria set out in the Maastricht Treaty, which established the conditions for membership in Europe’s monetary union.