Ever since the announcement of the new stress test, in February 2016, the EBA has stated that "passing requirements are not included, because the objective of the test is to use it as a supervision instrument, and the results will be discussed individually with the participating banks, where actions for improving the situation will also be proposed". The methodology for assessing the solvency as part of the stress test is found on the official website of the EBA, www.eba.europa.eu and should at least engender a minimum of faith among investors when it comes to the banks' abilities to deal with non-performing loans and capitalization deficit. Unfortunately, a general state of "fatigue" seems to have taken place in the Eurozone, amid the waiting in vain for the results promised by the central banks and governments. According to Reuters, amid the disputes between the European and Italian authorities, concerning the initiation of a new bail-out program for Italian banks, but without the prior application of the bail-in procedure, Mario Draghi, the president of the ECB, has expressed his support for the governmental aid offered to Italian banks, because "such a program will allow them to sell some of their non-performing loans, which reduce their lending ability". But is such a "release" of Italian banks' lending capability rational and prudent, when the current volume of non-performing loans shows that they are incapable of correctly evaluating risks? In the recent meeting of finance ministers of the G20 countries, Pier Carlo Padoan, Italy's finance minister said that "we are going in the right direction and there are no risks when it comes to systemic stability", according to an article in Financial Times. Padoan also rejected the possibility of a bail-in, as he said that such a measure would not be necessary.
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