Final Word from Wednesday, March 5, 2025

As Donald Trump prepares to pull the U.S. out of the war in Ukraine, the EU is taking steps that could transform the battle on the ground into a financial battle on the global markets. One week after winning the German elections on the promise of adhering to his country's "debt brake," CDU Chair Friedrich Merz said yesterday that the current threats to our freedom and to peace on our continent mean that the rule for our defense has to be: "Whatever it takes." He said these three words in English, in clear allusion to the declaration in 2012 of ECB Pres. Mario Draghi, whose policies led to a huge expansion of central-bank balance sheets and eventually to crippling inflation. European politicians are now agreeing to throw borrowed money at a new problem before identifying what the real problem is, and Czech analysts with conflicts of interest are cheering them on. Taking subversive steps to debase an enemy's currency is an age-old military tactic. The EU has decided to do it to itself. [ Czech Republic United States European Union eurozone European Central Bank Germany ]