BBC News
December 8, 2011
There was a little help for the real economy from the European Central Bank on Thursday, and more than expected to help ease the credit crunch facing Europe's banks.
The ECB president also offered some backing to those who worry that enforcing higher capital standards on banks will get in the way of a European recovery. But he didn't lend much of a hand to European leaders attending tonight's summit.
In his remarks, Mario Draghi poured cold water on the more artful schemes to enlist the ECB's balance sheet in the battle to rescue the euro.
He said the ECB - and governments - needed to respect the spirit of the Maastricht treaty, which bans the ECB from financing national governments. You might be able to find a clever legal way to channel money, indirectly, from central banks to governments; but that would not make it right.
This will come as an unwelcome surprise to the artful euro-dodgers, also known as EU officials, who have been thinking up ways to do precisely that.
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