The convenient naivity and insularity of the ECB, is truly amazing and is the core reason why the Eurozone is struggling under US attack. They still live in the fantasy land of believing there is a free market, of believing there are dilligent investors out there, going through the fundamentals and making their own individual decisions. Whilst they admit it all has something to do with confidence, they cannot lift their eyes off the Euroground and look around to see what is happening in the world jungle markets. Yes its all about confidence, but that confidence is the ultimate idirect weapon. The markets are controlled by the rating agencies et al., who are in the pockets of the 'confidence controllers' who have a political agenda. These confidence controllers effectively control the market; they have direct market making flows, and secondary flows (including EU peoples pensions, ironically) controlled through confidence. There are basically primary and secondary weapons of financial mass destruction under the control of the financial elite, with a worlwide political agenda At the moment the EU is putting on a pretty dress and makeup to get raped by these financial thugs, who just want increased furnishable debt in the EU and a weakened Euro position to lessen its worldwide reserve potential. The EU can close its eyes and make itself look pretty, but if it doesn't get a G20 financial policeman out there, then the writing is on the wall. The US needs Europe in debt and still consuming, whilst at the same time limiting the EU,s capability to grow and threaten the Dollar. The US intends Europe to be a dumb consumer, hooked on debt and limited in future potential. A passive market of austerity with good secure payers of debt. Merkel has sussed it out, she knows that just enabling consumption for the US is not a good bet for Germany, she wants to throttle the consumerism at a manageble rate, not be the get out of Jail card for the US, by sitting in prison.