Banks help the euro states

The banks should not be made into scapegoats, writes the daily Le Temps in view of Greece's budget woes: "Various states of the Eurozone have great need for private capital to balance their huge budget deficits. Last Thursday the EU guaranteed its political support to Greece. Since then Athens hasn't stopped denouncing the faint-hearted aid or calling for more discipline on Brussels' part. Such a trial of strength shows that order has not yet returned to the home of the euro. And to a large extent this explains the nervousness of the banks. They supply the liquidity which the states are calling for, but at a price commensurate with their risks. Holding them responsible for the problems of the Eurozone is turning them into scapegoats. Greece has profited from the agreements made secretly by the commercial banks, so as to sidestep the Maastricht criteria."

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