Unfortunately, however, these fiscal rules lacked the necessary punch, not least because  4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  they led to a situation in which potential sinners were passing judgment on fellow sinners, to paraphrase Otmar Issing. It was hoped that the financial markets would have a disciplining effect, but this, too, proved not to be the case.
For many years, Greece was highly indebted, but paid little more for its debt than Germany or France. It seems that investors simply couldn’t imagine that the other member states would allow one of the euro-area countries to default – and they weren’t entirely wrong about that, as we now know.