Kate Connolly: The Austrian government is adamant that it's financial package is not a rescue plan

It is not, the chief of Austria's national bank, Ewald Nowotny, has been keen to stress, a "rescue package", or a "bail-out" or a "measure to put the banking system back on an even keel". The €100bn the Austrian government has pledged in guarantees, fresh equity and other measures to assist the banking system is first and foremost a "vaccination" or a "massive packet of measures". "It is a vaccination to protect us from the international contagion. But it's not something we really need just now," Nowotny said. Unnecessary or not, ATX, Austria's share index, rallied on the news, rising 12%. Call it what you like, the package Austria doesn't apparently need is expensive: it's the biggest non-bail-out in the history of Austria. "Eliminating mistrust", as the chancellor, Alfred Gusenbauer, put it, doesn't come cheap. But as... [read full story]