Mario Draghi is holding on. Despite pressure from Germany, which is clamoring for the start of a monetary tightening, today the President of the European Central Bank fully confirmed Frankfurt's accommodative line: interest rates remain at an all-time low and quantitative easing will continue as expected.
“We did not discuss tapering in this district – Draghi clarified – and we did not discuss tapering in the past meeting. It is obvious that one day the time will come, but we are not there yet. When the time comes we will discuss it in depth”.
According to the Eurotower number one, “there are some signs of a somewhat more solid global recovery, but the risks in the Eurozone remain oriented to the downside”. Inflation in the euro area "has risen to as expected", mainly as a reflection of increases in energy, and for the months to come the ECB expects further increases. “But core inflation remains subdued. The Council will continue to evaluate whether the rise in inflation is transitory and whether it has widespread effects”.
“We do not see any country in the euro area with unsustainable public debt – Draghi said again, answering a question about possible new crises in Europe when the time has come to gradually reduce the monetary stimulus – In the case of Greece there is an ongoing program and there are negotiations between the Government and those in charge of the aid plan of which you are all aware”.
With regard to the possibility that the ECB will help the governments of some countries in difficulty more than necessary, in particular those on the southern bank of the euro and, in this case, Italy, Draghi said he wanted to answer "what have you seen in the last five years , you have seen that we have always acted totally independently, guided only by our mandate and by our objective which is price stability. We have provided many proofs of our independence over the years and history is absolutely in our favor”.
