Innate immune system

• Larry Elliott, An Italian financial crisis is certain — the big question is how contagious it is, The Guardian, March 10, 2020

Italy’s response to the coronavirus will bust Europe’s budget deficit rules, no question, leaving Europe’s policymakers with a choice. Do they take the opportunity to rebalance policy so that governments have greater leeway to borrow and the ECB is not required to provide all the stimulus? Or do they treat Italy the way they treated Greece and insist there is no alternative to austerity? Italy is much bigger than Greece and the consequences of making the wrong choice should be obvious. [Read more].

Edna for President

Portuguese Socialist Finance Minister Mário Centeno was elected the new President of the Eurogroup, which manages crises for the eurozone. He defeated Luxembourg’s Pierre Gramegna, Slovakia’s Peter Kažimír and Latvia’s Dana Reizniece-Ozola, the latter also being known for holding the chess Woman Grandmaster title. Photo: Olivier Hoslet/EPA.