Policy Briefs

S. Micossi – The real match over debt: The proposal for a European System of Deposit Insurance

The European Commission's proposal for the creation of a European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS) triggered a particularly sour reaction from German authorities. Spiegel Magazine reported that German Finance Minister Schäuble is striving to create a minority block within the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to block the proposal. The primary objection to EDIS can be condensed into this: if the banks of indebted countries are not first induced to significantly reduce their investment in their own governments’ bonds, a common system of deposit insurance would essentially be equivalent to the creation of the infamous Eurobond, namely a collective system of guarantees for the public debt of the member states.

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