Brussels, 19/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - The President of the ECB, Mario Draghi, is of the opinion that the criticism levelled at the European institution over its action to tackle the crisis is misdirected.
“As a European institution which has played a central role through the crisis, the ECB has become the central target for criticism from all those who are frustrated by the situation”, Draghi said on Wednesday 18 March, at the ceremony to open the institution's new headquarters in Frankfurt on the Großmarkthalle site. These accusations are “unquestionably unfair”, he said, adding that he firmly believed that the monetary institute's actions aimed “precisely to soften the blows suffered by the economies”.
In order to tackle negative inflation in the eurozone and to boost the economy through a drop in the value of the euro, the ECB initiated a new quantitative easing policy in early March, most notably by buying back sovereign debt (see EUROPE 11268). However, it has been accused of relentlessly calling for structural reforms in the member states, which translate into taking a hatchet to social benefits, particularly in its capacity as a member of the entity representing the creditors of eurozone countries under financial support, such as Greece.
On Wednesday, on the sidelines of the opening ceremony, there were violent clashes between several thousand anti-austerity demonstrators from the Blockupy movement and members of the police forces, leaving many people injured and causing considerable material damage. (Mathieu Bion)