Absent Without Leave

Nine crucial days to save the Euro. Emergency swap lines put in place overnight by the world s top central banks. A new captain taking over a huge, recently-built ship in the middle of a raging storm. If there was ever a time when publicly-elected representatives should be grilling the head of the European Central Bank, this is it.

So when Mario Draghi arrived at the European Parliament Thursday, your correspondent was amazed to see the former Goldman Sachs executive playing to a virtually-deserted house. A rough leaning-over-the-balcony headcount gave 35 MEPs out of 736, as per the attached photo (Draghi is just to the right of the blue lectern in the centre, sitting in the front row).

Source The Wall Street Journal