European Stability Mechanism aims to halt contagion

EU finance ministers tried to stop the domino effect last night by fleshing out a new European Stability Mechanism to support troubled eurozone economies in the future.

They noted that financial distress in one member state can rapidly threaten macro-financial stability in the EU as a whole through contagion.

But the blame for much of the run on Europe’s peripheral eurozone countries, including Ireland, has been firmly laid at the door of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.