Mario Draghi

Mario Draghi might be remembered as the central banker who defended the euro while planting the seeds of its eventual destruction.

The ECB now occupies a bizarre position in the pseudo-democracy of the EU. On the one hand, it has the power to compel struggling countries to implement austerity policies, cut their welfare states, reform their labour markets and change their tax systems. On the other, it effectively forces the stronger economies of Europe into a de facto liability union as all the ECB’s risky bond purchases are ultimately underwritten by the taxpayers of countries such as Germany, Luxembourg and Finland.