FRANKFURT 17-18 December 2008 European Central Bank councils meet 

The financial and market crises that has spread from the United States to the rest of the world will be the main issue facing European Central Bank governing and general councils at their December meeting. In October the ECB put up US $100 billion to offer liquidity to the market. The European Central Bank is likely to move slowly, because of its federal structure, but the gravity of the situation is expected to encourage additional bold moves.

The crisis has stirred the European Union, also uncharacteristically slow to move, into action. European governments are investing hundreds of billions of euros in measures to to surmount the financial crisis.

European Central Bank Executive Board member Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo on Oct 16 expressed doubts about the value of steps taken by central banks to provide funds to cash-strapped institutions. He said they have not solved the problems of these entities. "It diminishes the illiquidity of the market for solvent institutions, but it doesn't lessen the problem," he said in a speech on "Liquidity, finances and the economy: the role of central banks." Oct/08

RELATED READING:

European central banks offer liquidity to markets (AP/IHT 15 Oct 2008)
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/15/business/EU-Europe-Central-Banks.php