Benelux takes over Fortis

It looks like the Belgian bank Fortis will be saved from collapse after the governments in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands announced plans to purchase a 49 percent stake for eleven billion euros. The daily De Standaard comments: "Is it normal that the rules no longer apply for these masters of the market? Certainly not, but there is no alternative. ... The imperative need to prevent Fortis from becoming the first domino to fall in a European financial and economic bloodbath makes this rescue plan necessary. The plan may serve to guide the Fortis ship into calmer waters but we have a long way to go before confidence in the Belgian, European and international banking system is restored. What we have witnessed with Fortis in the past few days is just one episode of a brutal purge in the financial sector. Only the joint efforts of policymakers and banks can prevent this purge from turning into a bloodbath."

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