Following my last post, Jens Weidmann, has offered a further insight on his thinking as Germany’s new Bundesbank president. His predecessor, Axel Weber, famously opposed in public the European Central Bank’s government bond purchasing scheme.

Mr Weidmann has not - so far - repeated that opposition outright. But hidden carefully in a speech on payment systems (in German) he delivered in Frankfurt this morning, was a reference to how the Bundesbank had repeatedly warned of the need to distinguish clearly between fiscal and monetary policies. Read more