Eurozone Chutzpah and the IMF

European officials take it for granted that the IMF should support the eurozone, as if the rest of the world had some kind of duty to do so. It does not, and it should not allow the eurozone to extort that support.

LONDON – Eurozone policymakers and politicians are in no doubt: they have done their part to support the currency union’s struggling members by increasing the size of its rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). Now it is time for the rest of the world – that is, the International Monetary Fund – to step up and put additional funds on the table, and European finance ministers are making that case at the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington

European officials, in other words, take for granted that the IMF should support the eurozone, as if the rest of the world had some kind of duty to do so. In reality, even if eurozone governments could agree on a much larger increase in the ESM’s size, there are compelling reasons why the IMF should refrain from offering any further support. & & &

Europe’s leaders cannot decide if the eurozone is a federation akin to the United States or a group of independent states. They frequently compare the eurozone favorably to other developed economies.

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