scholarly journals The European Central Bank, machinic enslavement, and the Greek public sector

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-61
Author(s):  
Radman Selmic

This article investigates the role of the European Central Bank (ECB) in transferring financial and moral responsibility for the Eurozone crisis from the private to the public sector. Focusing on Greece, I argue that the ECB constructed the morality of the public debtor in such a way as to make this transfer of responsibility easier and the imposition of austerity measures justifiable. This in part relied on a shift in the ECB’s discourse, which came to define the crisis exclusively in terms of public sector responsibility. However, the ECB also employed a range of non-linguistic policy measures aimed at intervening in the crisis. To interpret these measures I draw on Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of ‘machinic enslavement’, arguing that the ECB contributed to the Greek crisis not only by defining it discursively but also by reshaping the country’s financial infrastructure in crucial ways.

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 231-256
Author(s):  
Christos V. Gortsos

Immediately after the outbreak of the current pandemic crisis, the EU developed a (rather) consistent strategy, by taking measures in order to deal with health emergency needs, support economic activity and employment, preserve monetary and financial stability and prepare the ground for recovery; these contain a combination of government fiscal stimuli (with extensive resort to the principle of solidarity), emergency liquidity and monetary policy measures and measures relating to financial stability. After briefly reviewing all these measures from a systematic point of view, the present article further analyses the role of the European Central Bank (ECB) during the first phase of this crisis, both in its capacity as a monetary authority within the Eurosystem and in its capacity as prudential banking supervisory authority within the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), with particular emphasis on the treatment of non-performing loans (NPLs). Its specific contribution to financial macro-prudential oversight within European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) is also highlighted.


Author(s):  
David Quinn

Authority of the European Central Bank (the Bank) over its operational norms in the eyes of market actors – Exogenous and endogenous authority and legitimacy – The reconciliation by the Bank and the Court of Justice of the EU (the Court) of the pre-existing norm and political-economic reality with Article 123 TFEU – Sovereign lender of last resort – Eurozone Crisis – Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) – Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP) – Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP)


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-107
Author(s):  
Klaus Tuori

The European Central Bank started its quantitative easing programme in 2015 in order to support euro area financial conditions and ultimately increase inflation. The controversial Public Sector Purchase programme has resulted in central bank purchases of government bonds in the magnitude of €2.1 trillion and the Eurosystem (the European Central Bank and the national central banks) become the largest creditor to the euro area Member States. The constitutional framework of the European Central Bank did foresee such a programme, which also makes it potentially problematic for the European Central Bank’s accountability. The underlying source for constitutional concerns is the European Central Bank’s exceptional independence, which could be justified with a narrow central banking model, but becomes problematic when the European Central Bank’s influence on the society becomes more multifaceted, which blurs the borderlines between monetary policy and other economic policies. The specific constitutional concerns related to the Public Sector Purchase programme and accountability are highlighted by three claims: (a) With the Public Sector Purchase programme, the European Central Bank takes deeper inroads to the society than with traditional monetary policy; (b) Through the Public Sector Purchase programme, the European Central Bank became the largest creditor to Member States it was not allowed to finance; and (c) The Public Sector Purchase programme can lead to conflicts between the price stability objective and financial stability.


2021 ◽  
pp. 73-106
Author(s):  
Nuno Albuquerque Matos

The European Central Bank has been active since the sovereign debt crisis that struck European Union Member States by putting in place several asset-purchasing programmes such as Outright Monetary Transactions and Public Sector Purchase Programme. As much as these decisions have proven the pivotal importance of this institution within the monetary union, they have also spurred controversy on potentially having exceeded the competences attributed to the Union. The german federal constitutional court heard challenges to both and requested the Court of Justice to decide on their validity within the framework of a preliminary ruling. The decision of the former court to declare the Public Sector Purchase Programme ultra vires —in this way countering the preliminary ruling decision— as well as its argumentation could produce many institutional consequences to both the European Central Bank and Court of Justice of the European Union. Finally, it has shown the limits of European Union integration and will inevitably propel discussions on which way to go in the future: it is time for this discussion to come out from courtrooms into the public sphere. Received:  11 November 2020Accepted: 26 May 2021


Author(s):  
Massimo Rostagno ◽  
Carlo Altavilla ◽  
Giacomo Carboni ◽  
Wolfgang Lemke ◽  
Roberto Motto ◽  
...  

Institutions dedicated to serving the public good must look to the past to learn from experience; and look to the future to prepare, as best they can, for the trials that might lie ahead. The 20th anniversary of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) offers an opportunity to apply such a perspective to the monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB): to evaluate its accomplishments and to learn the lessons that can improve the conduct of its policy in the future....


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 557-558
Author(s):  
Glyn Morgan

The ongoing Eurozone crisis has brought to the fore the discourse of “austerity.” A number of countries, most dramatically Greece, have been called upon to institute policies of fiscal austerity as a condition of further support from the international financial community. The situation has generated some serious disagreements among economists, policymakers, and indeed important financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. Mark Blyth’s Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea speaks directly to these ongoing current debates. We have invited a range of political scientists working on related issues to comment on the book’s arguments and their relevance to the work that they do.


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