Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World

by Adam Tooze

On June 28, 2012, the European Council convened in Brussels in an atmosphere of “deep crisis.”42 Spain was clearly sliding toward the abyss. Three days earlier Madrid had formally applied for 100 billion euros in external assistance to recapitalize and restructure its banks. To stop the impending disaster, there was no alternative but for the council to approve the creation of a banking union. This would provide for the direct recapitalization of banks, independent of their home country governments, once an effective overall supervisory regime was established. Finally, a structural solution adequate to the crisis was coming into view.