Publication

The EU resembles a group of highly interdependent companies with large cross holdings of equity stakes. However, the formal structure of the group is very light. There is no central authority that can give orders to individual members of the group. When a subgroup of the EU member countries decided about ten years ago to adopt the same financing instrument, they acknowledged this limitation and created only a 'special purpose vehicle' (the ECB) with the very narrow remit to look after the stability of their common currency.