There are various misconceptions about this instrument, such as that it opens up the possibility for debt mutualisation through the backdoor. That is absolutely not the case. Recapitalisation through the ESM will come only after, first, shareholders and creditors have been written down, and second, the beneficiary Member State has absorbed all incurred and expected losses based on a rigorous economic evaluation.
So the prospect of losses for the ESM is limited. 4. Conclusion  Let me now conclude. I have shown today that tackling fragmentation requires action of all fronts: from governments, from the ECB, and from the euro area as a whole through building Banking Union. The challenge is now to build consensus behind such action, particularly Banking Union.