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Totality of on- and off-balance sheet liabilities of the EU public sector is cloaked in obscurity

Total EU public sector debt is shrouded in mystery

The totality of the public sector liabilities of EU and Eurozone member states is clouded in obscurity.  The key measure tracked by Eurostat – ‘General government gross debt’ – is circumvented to such an extent that, based on year-end 2021 figures, debts of around €6.4 trillion failed […]

The archipelago of EU public sector entities with borrowing powers has created a behemoth of liabilities

EU public sector entities harbour a debt mountain

The EU member states contain numerous public sector entities with borrowing powers, and whose debts fall outside the definition of member state debt as reported by Eurostat. The responsibility for the debts tracks back, one way or another, to the member state but the amounts involved are opaque. […]

Sir John Redwood comments for The Bruges Group

Sir John Redwood in conversation about the issues of EU and Eurozone debts as raised in my book ‘The shadow liabilities of EU Member States, and the threat they pose to global financial stability’.


Sir John Redwood on the debts of EU and Eurozone

The EU banking system has massively exaggerated the amount of its cushion against losses

EU banking system has a tiny loss cushion

EU authorities have permitted commercial banks to implement a particularly aggressive form of risk-evaluation methodology, the result of which is the ability to claim a thick loss-absorption cushion and to attest that the EU banking system is stable and resilient. It isn’t: cushions are as thin as before […]

The Eurosystem has become a commercial bank, except one without a credit assessment department or loss-absorption cushion

The Eurosystem is a commercial bank with no capital

The Eurosystem has expanded its operations well beyond what a central bank would have traditionally undertaken. It now owns assets that are not ‘central bank money’ definitionally. Assets have credit ratings as low as BB in the Standard and Poor’s system, which means they are ‘Speculative Grade’ […]

Will EU/UK MoU on financial services regulation address EU’s systemic breach of regulation?

Bruges Group blog on EU breaches of regulation

You will have seen that the EU and UK just announced a Memorandum of Understanding on regulatory matters to do with financial services:https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/mex_23_2805The issues in my book – ‘The shadow liabilities of EU Member States, and the threat they pose to global financial stability’ – are regulatory issues […]

Analysis of YouGov surveys commissioned by the Bank of England in connection with its ‘digital pound’ project.

Bank of England’s ‘consultation’ on the ‘digital pound’

We previously issued a paper on the YouGov surveys that the Bank of England commissioned to support its work on the ‘digital pound’, the outcome of which work is out for consultation.

We have responded to both the Consultation Paper and the accompanying Technology Working Paper.

Those responses are contained […]

Technology Working Paper accompanying the Bank of England Consultation Paper on the ‘digital pound’

Bank of England ‘consultation’ on the digital pound

We have analysed the Technology Working Paper which accompanies the Bank of England’s Consultation Paper on the ‘digital pound’, and responded to the survey.

You can download our responses to the survey questions here.

The UK’s ‘digital pound’, often referred to as ‘Britcoin’, will be a Central Bank Digital Currency […]

Bank of England consultation on the ‘digital pound’

‘Consultation’ on the digital pound

We have responded to this consultation, although it is a sham.

You can download our response here.

The points on which the Bank of England has chosen to consult are narrow, and avoid the most important questions about the ‘digital pound’, which can only be referred to tangentially in a response.

This […]

TARGET2 harbours risks even greater than the enormous ones acknowledged by the European Central Bank

TARGET2 imblances are double what the ECB reports

There has been long and ongoing debate about the nature of the sizeable loans and deposits that the Eurozone national central banks (NCBs) run with one another within the TARGET2 payment system. The debate has overlooked that the balances are nearly double what the European Central Bank (ECB) […]