The European Central Bank and the COVID-19 recession

The ECB, turning a page from its sluggish response the 2008–09 financial crisis, has responded to the COVID-19 recession by quickly stabilising banks and flooding the eurozone with cheap capital. Yet the crisis has caused fiscal imbalances – most notably between Germany and Italy – to worsen, with no prospect of making political headway towards mutualising the debts of individual member states.