It may well be asked whether the founding fathers of the European Community and then of Economic and Monetary Union deliberately planned to leave the European construction halffinished, with an ambitious and absorbing mission but without the means to accomplish it. Based on the historical record, my answer is no.
Moreover, the incentive of the supervisory authorities, which are part of the government structure, to criticize lending that was granted at the behest of the government is limited. As a result, one of the first steps toward implementing a rigorous supervisory framework must be the elimination of such practices in the banking sector.