It is hardly a secret that, with one exception, I have lost confidence in the British media and am relying more on the German press for reporting on the eurocrisis.
And here, Die Welt does not disappoint, dismissing Draghi's press conference yesterday as: "Not much more than rhetoric". Even though it is less than a week since it was being hinted that the ECB has an "inexhaustible" supply of money, it turns out that the bank has no big cash to bring to the table. Draghi did not deliver, says the paper, at least not yet.
The point, as we well know, is multiple commentators have remarked that European law has been stretched to its limits. Thus, the ECB is already at the limit of is power and if it is restricted to its mandate, then it has nothing to offer which will help the current crisis.
Thus, Spiegel decides that Draghi's performance was disappointing while Handelsblatt reports that the cautious attitude of the ECB has left Italy and Spain helpless. Monti and Rajoy are now teaming up to to create an axis against Merkel, aimed at breaking German resistance to support measures.
However, if they think they can achieve anything, they are wrong. Merkel is in the grip of the constitution and confronts a population that is increasingly hostile to further financial support.
This supposed rescue really is going nowhere. The crash is that much closer and it is now touch and go whether we make it through August without at least one country dropping out of the euro. The bluff is being called.
COMMENT: "BACK-TRACKING" THREAD