Political Risks and Fiscal Considerations in Euro Area Politics

Why Is No One Worried About the Gargantuan Euro Area Sovereign Debt? Our guest is the brilliant French economist, Anne-Laure Delatte, who is worried about the ever increasing size of European sovereign debt and the return (did it ever go away?) of the bank-sovereign doom loop. We ask Anne-Laure about the increasingly important role the ECB seems to be playing in determining European policy (again, she is worried) and whether there is a general assumption that the ECB will now and forever more serve as a backstop to the unlimited borrowing of individual Euro area nations. Finally, to get her even more worried, we ask Anne-Laure about the implications of Marine Le Pen taking the reins of power in France (we vividly remember her plan to solve the French debt problem by unilaterally converting the Euro denominated debt into Francs). Producer: Leanna Doty