Doesn’t European culture have another fundamental characteristic that makes it unique among the world’s cultures? Jacques Derrida, the French philosopher, phrases the question this way in “L’autre Cap” 7 : “On peut aimer à se rappeler qu’on est un intellectuel européen sans vouloir l’être de part en part. Se sentir européen entre autres choses, est-ce être plus ou moins européen ?
This notwithstanding, the central banks’ balance sheets can serve as a conduit for shifting risks among national taxpayers, even if there are no explicit fiscal transfers and irrespective of the approval of national legislatures – thus undermining countries’ individual national responsibility and hence the very foundations upon which responsible decisionmaking is built.