Mario Draghi looked confident when he summarized his introductory statement to the ECON meeting in Brussels this afternoon: “Growth is gaining momentum. The basis for the economic recovery in the euro area has clearly strengthened. This is due to in particular the fall in oil prices, the gradual firming of external demand, easy financing conditions driven by our accommodative monetary policy, and the depreciation of the euro.”
During the Q&A session several MEPs asked about Greece and he defended the ECB’s handling of the Greek crisis saying that “ECB is a rule-based institution. We are not creating rules for Greece or anybody else, we are simply observing existing rules….We are ready to reinstate the waiver as soon as the conditions for a successful conclusion of the review are in place…The Greek government should commit to fully honour its debt obligations to all its creditors”.
He also contradicted claims that the ECB is “blackmailing” Greece when not including their bonds in ECB’s QE program, adding that the bank had 100 billion of Greek exposure in their balance sheet.
One could argue that MEPs don’t really put him to a difficult test. They seldom do. But he has clear, concise answers to every question put to him. One gets the feeling that the ECB is in control of what they are supposed to do.
Why don’t they give the ECB a mandate for maximum employment?
During the Q&A session several MEPs asked about Greece and he defended the ECB’s handling of the Greek crisis saying that “ECB is a rule-based institution. We are not creating rules for Greece or anybody else, we are simply observing existing rules….We are ready to reinstate the waiver as soon as the conditions for a successful conclusion of the review are in place…The Greek government should commit to fully honour its debt obligations to all its creditors”.
He also contradicted claims that the ECB is “blackmailing” Greece when not including their bonds in ECB’s QE program, adding that the bank had 100 billion of Greek exposure in their balance sheet.
One could argue that MEPs don’t really put him to a difficult test. They seldom do. But he has clear, concise answers to every question put to him. One gets the feeling that the ECB is in control of what they are supposed to do.
Why don’t they give the ECB a mandate for maximum employment?
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