The European Central Bank has become used to being vilified over the past few years. Yet its decision on Wednesday to require Greek banks to obtain liquidity from the country’s own central bank rather than the ECB is far less drastic and aggressive than it looks.

Rather than a declaration of economic war, it represented the ECB removing itself from a decision about whether to keep Greece afloat while its new government tries to negotiate with the European authorities. This step was perfectly understandable. Decisions about Greece’s future in the eurozone should be taken by politicians, not by central bankers.

The ECB’s decision removed the waiver that permitted low-grade bonds to be used as collateral in the Eurosystem. But Greek banks can continue to fund themselves from Greece’s central bank through the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) programme.