Debt Crisis - Banking system still 'not fully prepared' for collapse warns ECB's Liikanen -live - Telegraph The DAX is creeping up to levels last seen five years ago. 08.32 ECB governing council member Erkki Liikanen told German daily Die Welt the system is still not fully prepared for a banking collapse. In an interview with the paper, he said: The world would be better prepared than before but not fully prepared. It's positive that banks these days are better capitalised. But that's not enough. We urgently need a legal framework for the closure and settlement of banks. The top goal must be that, in the case of a bank collapse, the owners are the first to pay the bill and not the taxpayers. 08.00 Now for a look at the papers this morning. We report that governor of the Bank of Italy, Ignazio Visco, has played down the country's need for a bail out from the European Central Bank, saying the current economic situation is "characterised by lower tension" than a ear ago when bond yields exceeded the 7pc threshold, above which borrowing is considered unsustainable. Also in the Telegraph is news that Cyprus has called on state-backed companies to cough up around €200m in three-month loans to the government, "to cover the state's financing needs." We also report the French actor Gerard Depardieu's planned move to Belgium due to the government's taxes on the rich, which he laid out in a fierce open letter to prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, in which he accused the government of thinking that "success, creativity and talent...must be sanctioned." The Financial Times has interviewed German chancellor Angela Merkel, who said Europe will have to "work very hard" to maintain the most generous welfare system. She said government spend should prioritise research and education, and hinted at cuts in social welfare budgets, pointing out that "If Europe today accounts for 7pc of the world's population, produces around 25pc of global GDP and has to finance 50pc of global social spending, then it's obvious it will have to work very hard to maintain its prosperity and way of life. All of us have to stop spending more than we earn every year. 07.45 Roger Bootle, managing director of Capital Economics, has given reasons to be cheerful about the economy in this morning's Telegraph. Today, I want to discuss the prospects for long-term increases in productive capacity. This may seem arcane, but it isn't. It holds the key to prospects for living standards - and much else besides. Not so long ago, it would have seemed incredible that this was up for discussion. My own generation, when we were young, didn't entertain any doubts. More recently, of course, living standards have been falling. And many people now feel gloomy about the future - including some distinguished economists. 07.29 Founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, has argued today a eurozone break-up would undo a raft of achievements under the single currency, and the bloc should push ahead to closer monetary and fiscal union. You can read his piece here.