Professor Patrick Honohan:

They have the authority but they are required under the ESM treaty, I think it is, now, that these sort of loans require the ECB to be present at it, in this liaison role. So they have been mandated by the European Council and by the political structure to be there. Now is that a good idea or not? I think it's not a good idea but it is not something that they have simply taken on themselves; they have been given that mandate.