Unravelling Economic Solidarity: A Systemic View on Risk-Sharing in the European Banking Sector

The policy contribution aims to overcome the unfertile debate that opposes the notions of risk-sharing and risk reduction, by examining the concepts of economic solidarity and responsibility, with a particular focus on the Banking Union and some of its unresolved crisis management issues. The contribution adopts a money-centric view on banking, which highlights the interconnectedness between monetary policy design and the banking sector, arguing that both principles of solidarity and responsibility are interconnected and must, therefore, be included in the architecture of the EU’s financial system. The empirical review comparatively examines the EU and US cases in order to draw concrete lessons from them. The contribution concludes by briefly proposing the enhancement of a solidarity dimension in the Banking Union design.