Not surprisingly, it is precisely in those countries which face acute financing problems and a severe loss of confidence in their own fiscal policies that the cries for joint liability are the loudest and the most emphatic. The support we are seeing from the European institutions, which, by their very nature, advocate greater centralisation at the European level, is just as understandable.
Those countries with strong domestic fundamentals - such as Australia, Canada, Sweden and New Zealand - began the process of getting their interest rates back to levels that were more commensurate with their domestic needs.