Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

Michel Barnier and the European Commission are not at all proposing a splitting up of banking activities, just a little management of the worst. The decision to create the ad hoc subsidiary will emanate from the regulating authorities in the bank’s country, this, in the eurozone, is the ECB ECB
European Central Bank The European Central Bank is a European institution based in Frankfurt, founded in 1998, to which the countries of the Eurozone have transferred their monetary powers. Its official role is to ensure price stability by combating inflation within that Zone. Its three decision-making organs (the Executive Board, the Governing Council and the General Council) are composed of governors of the central banks of the member states and/or recognized specialists. According to its statutes, it is politically ‘independent’ but it is directly influenced by the world of finance.

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/html/index.en.html , which is little inclined to imposing any strict discipline on the banking sector. The continual about turns, compromises and half measures that we have already seen for such a long time are clear proof that the governments and authorities currently in place cannot be trusted to really put order into the murky world of finance.

By the decisions they have made, the banks had a large part in the worst economic and social crisis since the 1930s. The decisions of the central banks to give them unlimited access to credit, without imposing any changes in the rules of the game have aggravated the effects.

The real crux of the problem is that because of their size and the devastating effects their mismanagement can have on the economy, banking is much too serious an activity to be trusted into private hands. The banking sector uses public money, has a State guarantee and provides an essential and fundamental service to society. Banking must be considered a public service.

The States must take back their capacity to manage and direct the country’s economic and financial activities. They must also have methods for investing and for reducing public borrowing from private institutions to a minimum. This supposes the expropriation of the private banks without indemnities and that they be put under public control. By taking such radical action it will be possible to protect savings, finance activities useful to the common good and guarantee the jobs and working conditions of banking sector employees. For this it is necessary and indispensable to create public systems for savings, credit and investment.

The necessary choices suppose the suppression of the capitalist banking sector, as much for credit as for savings and deposits and in the field of investment banking. In fact there should only be two types of banks: Public banks with public service status (under citizen control) and moderate sized cooperative banks.

Translation : Mike Krolikowski et Christine Pagnoulle