A statement by Christine Lagarde Feb. 25, when discussions on SWIFT sanctions had entered the hot phase, was barely noticed. Lagarde stated that the ECB was ready to support sanctions against Russia and “to take whatever action is needed to fulfill its responsibilities to ensure price stability and financial stability in the euro area.”
The “whatever” is intentionally evocative of Mario Draghi’s 2012 “whatever it takes” that marked the beginning of QE.
(As to Draghi, it looks like a scandal threat by Bloomberg last Saturday is responsible for the turnaround of the Italian government on SWIFT. Bloomberg leaked that last Feb.14 a high- ranking Italian delegation was in Moscow, discussing major energy deals).
