Mr. Alan Dukes:

There are several strands to it, including the two the Chairman has mentioned. One is the European Central Bank did not get involved in quantitative easing until quite a late stage in the process. If we compare the sequence of the reaction to crisis by the United States and the eurozone, the eurozone lagged by quite a period of time. The second point is politically more sensitive. If we had used the strength of the eurozone as a funding mechanism to resolve the issues for member states that were in dire financial trouble, we could have made faster progress. However, clearly the political will was not there to have any substantial degree of mutualisation of borrowing or financial capacity early enough in the process. Even today, there is substantial resistance to the idea of mutualisation of borrowing capacity or debt to any extent. As long as that continues to be the case, the eurozone will be trying to deal with difficult issues with the equivalent of one hand tied behind its back.