The European Central Bank is ready. The OMT program can be launched as soon as the conditions are right. Which means that now it's up to the governments that have to request it. And, he specifies that the conditions to which aid from the bailout fund and the ECB are subordinated "do not necessarily have to be punitive", indeed they are often pro-growth conditions such as structural reforms. A reassurance that alleviates the fear of many about the onerousness of a possible request for help. And that, while negotiations are underway between Europe and Madrid, could lead Rajoy to definitively dissolve the reservation. On the other hand Draghi claims, after the tensions and contrasts with the Bundesbank, the full agreement of views on the defense of prices with the German Central Bank and points out that the government bond purchase program "will make it possible to avoid potentially serious challenges for price stability” and “we are strictly within our mandate”.
On the front of aid to Greece, however, the president of the Eurotower takes sides on the front of no for the extension of the maturities on the Greek debt in the hands of the ECB: "It would be equivalent to monetary financing", he said. Meanwhile, the ECB reiterates that the Eurozone economy will recover only "very gradually". The new updated estimates of the ECB staff on growth and inflation in 2013 and a first estimate for 2014 will be released in early December. Growth continues to be weak also in the third quarter and this trend will continue in the near future "with market tensions and high uncertainty weighing on confidence". Inflation is forecast above 2% until the end of this year, with a drop below this threshold in 2013, remaining in line with the objective of price stability over the medium term.
