What an end to quantitative easing means for Italian debt
Investors will begin to follow Italy’s politics again
BEFORE THE pandemic, there were a few accepted facts about the euro zone. Heavily indebted southern member states would try to persuade northerners to agree to jointly issue bonds, and fail. Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, would talk of a big common budget, only to be met by opposition in Berlin. And everyone agreed—some would say pretended—that Italy’s government debt was manageable. That helped give the European Central Bank (ECB) political cover to buy Italian bonds during downturns.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “The Roman question”
Finance & economics April 23rd 2022
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