BRUSSELS. For now, there is no specter of new crises, of a new Lehman Brothers effect for Europe. But they don’t want to run new similar risks and therefore the EU takes action and is worried about the bankruptcy of the Silicon Valley Bank, one of the largest commercial banks in the United States and the main one in the Californian industrial district. In Brussels, after the crack, first of all he reassured himself. The exposure of the eurozone “is very limited,” says the president of the Eurogroup, Pascal Donohoe, who today in Brussels will be forced to review the work agenda of the economic ministers of the EU countries with the single currency. The economic and financial crisis of 2008, which began with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, does not therefore seem destined to repeat itself. At least this is the message we want to send, especially to the markets.
European stock markets do not react well, and open at a loss. London loses 1.7%, Paris 2% and Frankfurt 2.2%, while Milan sinks and yields 4.2%. “From the European point of view, we are well positioned, we have made changes to our regulatory framework in the last decade”, continues the president of the Eurogroup, and this system is confirmed in Brussels. “I think we are more protected than Lehman Brothers,” confides a senior European official. Of course, everything “must be checked” properly and in detail, and it is for this reason that “the competent technical bodies were asked to look into the matter”. We want to be sure that there is no risk of contagion, which is the reason for the declines in the business markets of the old continent.
Silicon Valley Bank, the last days in the bank between employee bonuses and maxi share sales
The EU therefore does not stand by and watch. If the agenda of the Eurogroup could undergo changes in the agenda as early as today, the same could happen to that of the Ecofin scheduled for tomorrow. “Even if it is not the intention of the Swedish presidency to talk about it, I imagine that the ministers would like to discuss what is happening on the other side of the Atlantic,” admits another EU official. Europe and its eurozone tried to reassure markets and investors. There is action, but at the moment not with a sense of urgency. Not to send the wrong message.