PARIS (MNI) – The new bond purchasing plan announced earlier today
by the European Central Bank should help induce better governance among
euro area states, Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti said early Thursday
evening.
In the ECB’s decision, “I see a step forward towards more
satisfying governance in the Eurozone,” Monti said at a joint press
conference with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso,
shortly before the two men met at the prime minister’s residence in
Rome. The press conference was monitored via webcast.
ECB President Mario Draghi announced earlier this afternoon that
the central bank would intervene in sovereign debt markets to buy
securities with maturities of up to three years of countries that agreed
to an aid program with the European bailout fund. Draghi touted the
strong conditions that would be attached to such ECB bond purchases,
saying that the bank would terminate support for countries that failed
to honor their reform commitments.
Monti said it was too early to say whether his government, which
has been politically averse to the idea of a formal EU aid agreement,
would see the conditions as an impediment to seeking ECB help.
However, he asserted that “Italy is marching forward with a sense
of discipline and reform” in its efforts to cut debt, increase
competitiveness and boost economic growth.
Barroso defended Draghi and the ECB against the criticism of
Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann and others who have said the bank’s
bond purchasing plans are inconsistent with its core mission.
“The ECB is acting fully within its mandate of keeping the
integrity of monetary policy,” Barroso asserted, adding that the new
program was just as much a part of its mandate as price stability.
–Paris newsroom, +331-42-71-55-40; paris@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$X$$$,M$$EC$,MGX$$$,M$$CR$,M$I$$$]
