Trichet and Draghi urge EU nations to ratify rescue fund
With some eurozone states dragging their heels in approving the reform of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) agreed in July, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet and Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi warned that any delay risked worsening the eurozone’s debt crisis.
Draghi, who takes over from Trichet in November, also emphasised that the ECB’s sovereign bond-buying programme — which has bought breathing space in debt markets for peripheral states such as Italy and Spain in recent weeks — was a temporary measure and no substitute for fiscal reforms.
