The staggering public cost of rescuing Europe's banks

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In what was a largely unreported announcement in Decemeber, the EU Commission revealed that more than 4.5 trillion euros of state aid was authorized to fund the rescue of Europe's financial sector since October 2008. More than 1.1 trillion euros was actually used in 2009. Analysis and comment by Martine Orange.

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The European Commission revealed in December that more than 4.5 trillion euros of state aid was authorized to fund the rescue Europe's financial sector since October 2008. Martine Orange analyses the largely unreported figures and questions the logic of such an astronomical bail out set against the introduction of unprecedented austerity plans.

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