Afternoon Must-Read: Financial Times: ECB’s Mario Draghi and His Misguided Malcontents

Financial Times: ECB’s Mario Draghi and his misguided malcontents: “Two years ago, Mario Draghi pledged to do ‘whatever it takes’ to save the euro…

…to use the full monetary policy arsenal to revive the stalling eurozone economy. On Thursday, the European Central Bank president primed his latest weapon…. Yet misguided opposition from inside and outside the bank continues to prevent him firing at will. His colleagues should pass him the ammunition and move out of his way…. The feeble eurozone recovery has stalled. The inflation rate in the currency area is down to 0.3 per cent and the core economies of Germany, France and Italy are at or close to standstill…. Mr Schäuble is not wrong to emphasise the need for structural reform within eurozone economies, but liberalisation and asset purchases are complements…. Reality must at some point impinge upon the monetary theocrats: the threat of outright deflation in the eurozone is not a sign of rising competitiveness–it is a menace…. Since the onset of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis in 2010, the standard pattern has been to do the right thing between six and 18 months too late, the delay generally originating in Frankfurt or Berlin. Now is another opportunity to ditch faulty analysis and wrong-headed policy and arrest deflation before it takes hold. Mr Draghi has shown the right instincts since he took over the ECB presidency. Those critics who have been proved wrong again and again in the eurozone crisis should stop standing in his path.