I would hate to be in government right now

The final months of last year were dominated by escalating and justifiable concerns about the euro’s viability.

These concerns diminished early this year as observers and the markets were relieved by the response of European policymakers and by the ECB’s long-term refinancing operation.

This involved the ECB granting three-year loans to European banks in order to provide them with enough capital to remain operational. Rather than being loaned to customers, most of this money was used to buy government bonds.