It’s the banks, stupid. The European Union cannot fix its sovereign debt problem without a holistic solution that quells investors’ concerns about banks. For as long as they believe that the bloc’s banks are undercapitalised, addicted to European Central Bank funding, and dangerously exposed to weak eurozone sovereign risks, investors will stick to the sidelines. Procrastinating governments in the weakest peripheral economies have helped ensure that sovereign risk concerns crowd out all else in investors’ views of the region’s banks. But, as Portugal teeters, can it really damage Europe’s banks?
真夠笨的，問題的關鍵是銀行。拿不出一套整體解決方案，打消投資者對銀行的憂慮，歐盟(EU)是無法解決其主權債務問題的。只要投資者認為，歐盟內的銀行資本金不足、沉迷于歐洲央行(ECB)的注資、對歐元區弱國主權債務風險的敞口過大，他們就會堅持離場觀望。最脆弱的歐元區外圍經濟體的政府拖拖拉拉，讓投資者無暇顧及歐元區銀行的其它所有問題，一心關注主權債務風險。葡萄牙搖搖欲墜，但葡萄牙真的能傷害到歐洲的銀行嗎？