PRESS RELEASE
Draghi: Quantitative Easing Won’t Stop
May 30, 2017 (EIRNS)—Speaking before the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament yesterday, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi announced that the ECB has no intention to stop monthly purchases of €60 billion in junk paper from banks and corporations. The ECB Asset Purchase Program reached a total of €1.834 trillion as of April 30, including €1.5 trillion in sovereign bonds, whereas the rest is composed by asset-backed securities, covered bonds, and corporate bonds.
This has prompted some German commentators to write that "Draghi’s successor will inherit a pile of rubble."
In response to a question from member of the European Parliament, Draghi also repeated his mantra that "The euro is irreversible, as it is written in the treaties," and demanded giving more power to the European Commission. "Heterogeneity is the intrinsic fragility of the Monetary Union," he stated, and he proposed to
"strengthen the role of the Commission, which could become the main actor in ensuring that countries respect a process of evaluation of their reforms."