The European Central Bank’s monetary policy has undergone a peculiar change during the pandemic. Something other than the goal of price stability appears to be guiding the bank’s overall approach, suggesting that it has adopted a new mandate without publicly announcing it. Since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, the ECB has succeeded in closing the gap between northern and southern member states’ borrowing costs, bringing eurozone North-South yield spreads to historic lows. And with Europe facing multiple threats to its unity – from Donald Trump’s administration and Vladimir Putin’s revanchist Kremlin to an ... (full story)