The attempt by certain politicians to shift the responsibility for monitoring and disciplining other countries’ policies to the financial markets betrays the spirit of the union, which is based on strong budgetary rules to be implemented and monitored by the member states.
As we know, markets often react late, tend to over-react and to be pro-cyclical, behave as a herd and  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  follow acritically rating agencies. Policy makers cannot complain about this behaviour – occasionally even threaten market participants with coercive actions – and at the same time delegate to these same markets the fate of their economies.