–Still Working On Solutions For Ireland
FRANKFURT (MNI) – The European Central Bank must stay within its
mandate and cannot replace the need for government action by printing
money, ECB President Mario Draghi said Tuesday.
Testifying before the European Parliament, Draghi also said
financial market fragmentation within the Eurozone was still being
caused by a “crisis of confidence that has taken over the euro
area…it’s improved, but it’s still there.”
Draghi said the ECB’s OMT bond-buying program was designed to
“remove tail risks from the euro area,” but he stressed that governments
need to continue reforms.
Asked about Ireland’s still-heavy debt load and whether the ECB
could provide relief, Draghi said there was a “desire on all parties to
find a solution.”
But he stressed: “The ECB cannot undertake monetary financing and
cannot replace what governments should do…It’s too easy to think that
the ECB can replace governments’ action, or lack of it, (by) printing
money.”
“The ECB has already done a lot to this extent,” Draghi said,
adding that both governments and the central bank have their areas of
responsibility and each side “has to act within its mandate.”
Draghi said there was a “long list of indicators” that show
financial market fragmentation remains a problem in the Eurozone.
“Some things improved over the last three months, but I think the
road ahead of us is still long, and it’s an uphill” climb, he said.
— Frankfurt bureau: +49 69 720 142; email: frankfurt@mni-news.com
[TOPICS: M$X$$$,M$$EC$,MGX$$$,MT$$$$,M$$CR$]
