Klaas Knot, the Dutch central banker, has said what eurozone policymakers must be thinking – but dare not say: Greece might have to default. He was not suggesting the country would or should go bankrupt, he reassured Het Financieele Dagblad, the Dutch newspaper. “All efforts are aimed at preventing this, but I am less certain in excluding a bankruptcy that I was a few months ago.”

     His comments may not go down well in Frankfurt. The official ECB ”working assumption” is that Greece sticks to its bail-out programme and speculating about other scenarios is seen as unhelpful. But Mr Knot, 44, a newcomer to the ECB’s governing council, is gaining a reputation as a conservative, or “hawk” – and ally of Jens Weidmann, the German Bundesbank’s similarly-youthful president.  Both are thought to have opposed the ECB’s bond buying programme.

     Their agenda is much broader, however.  Read more