According to unnamed sources in a piece this morning from Der Spiegel who report that she and fin min Wolfgang Schaeuble had both called the ECB president last week to take him to task about comments in his Jackson Hole speech
Draghi said there that it would be
helpful for the overall stance of policy if fiscal policy could play a greater role alongside the ECB’s monetary policy.
Der Spiegel says Merkel wanted to know if the ECB had decided to change tack away from fiscal austerity in the Eurozone to boost growth, as championed by Germany among others.
German officials were not immediately available to comment on the Spiegel story.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is leading a call, with the backing of France for less focus on austerity and more room for manoeuvre within the European Union’s budget rules.
All one happy family then. Not.
