The European Central Bank (ECB) should not be used as Greece’s rescuer, the head of Germany’s central bank Jens Weidmann told a German newspaper, warning that the decision for Greece’s future in the Eurozone is clearly political.
Asked whether he would be prepared to stop emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) to Greek banks, thus forcing Greece to an exit from the currency, he said central banks “are not responsible for the composition of the Monetary Union, or for providing financial assistance”, according to advance extracts of an interview to Handelsblatt due to be published on Friday.
“Given the ban on monetary financing of states, I don’t think it’s ok that banks which don’t have access to the markets are being granted loans which then finance the bonds of their government, which doesn’t have access to the markets itself,” Jens Weidmann told Handelsblatt, according to advance extracts of an interview due to be published on Friday.
The banker said ECB should not be burdened exceedingly. “We are not omnipotent. I’m worried by the increasing politicization of the central banks, as well as the growing expectations placed on us. We are in danger of overburdening the central banks, not only in the sense of democratic legitimacy, but also because we would not even be able to solve Europe’s problems.”
(source: ana-mpa)
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