In praise of the European Central Bank

During the EU referendum campaign, there was much unfavourable comment (usually justified) about foreign entities or leaders who intervened to try to frighten us into voting Remain. Virtually all did so — Nato, the IMF, the World Bank, President Obama.

But one important voice was silent — that of the European Central Bank. Its president, Mario Draghi, confined himself to saying that the ECB was ‘ready for all contingencies’. This was greatly to his credit. I gather that the ECB came under enormous official pressure to join the chorus of anti-Brexit warnings, but refused. It sensibly realised that it had no business instructing British voters, and needed only to be ready to deal fairly with whatever might happen.

If Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, had understood this too, and shut up, perhaps the result would have gone the other way.

This is an extract from Charles Moore’s Notes. The full article can be found here.