ECB may pay dear for taking easy option

Another European Central bank meeting, another rate rise. Unfortunately, the feeling remains that the authorities lacked the bottle to raise rates the full half percentage point and put a firm brake on resurgent inflation and not that they acted from a conscious belief that a quarter point increase was the correct path to take.

Every passing month sees backing grow for the argument that Europe has yet to adapt its one-policy-fits-all approach to the realities of a disparate group of states.

It's natural then that the euro is finding it difficult to put a stop to its dithering in such a climate of uncertainty.

Dominic Coyle is at dcoyle@irish-times.ie