My opinion in this regard is that policymakers should refrain from a wild goose chase in pursuit of ever higher firewalls. Making the firewalls higher and higher will not resolve the crisis. Instead, policymakers should care that firewalls do not fall into a credibility trap owing to unavoidable political or financial constraints. Generally speaking, a firewall cannot extinguish a fire.
It only buys time until sustainable measures become effective. Therefore, the fire has to be extinguished by other means. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Monetary policy cannot extinguish the fire either. This is not to deny that the monetary policy of the eurosystem has helped to stabilise the financial system of the euro area and beyond. Our policy stance remains rather accommodative.