In effect, there was a false impression that, within the framework of the Economic and Monetary Union, the capacity of banks to absorb resources, and therefore their access to the capital market, would only depend on the respective solvency levels, reputation and risk-management ability.
However, when a financial system corresponds roughly to the territory of a single sovereign state, the sovereign risk strongly binds risk perception by the financial system and therefore fundamentally constrains the financing capacity of the economy. As the international financial crisis was unfolding, there has been, since late 2009, a significant differentiation of sovereign risk premium in a number of euro area economies.