“The Euro is Irreversible” - said Mario Draghi at least twice in the last few weeks, both in his 26 July Speech in London, and at the 2 August Press Conference in Frankfurt following the ECB Governing Body meeting. On the second occasion, the ECB President was specifically asked by a journalist: “What is the real meaning of the statement that the euro is irreversible?”
Draghi explained: “There is no going back to the Lira or the Drachma or to any other currency. It is pointless to bet against the euro. It is pointless to go short on the euro. That was the message. It is pointless because the euro will stay and it is irreversible.”
On Thursday 6 September Mario Draghi delivered on his promise. Outright Monetary Transactions (OMTs) are the new instrument being added to ECB powers, without any need for a change in the Treaties, making the ECB all that much closer to the Fed precisely because of its own independence in monetary policy and the requirements of effective mechanisms of monetary transmission.