France and Italy pile more pressure on ECB

France and Italy yesterday piled more pressure on the ECB to agree steps this week to reduce crippling borrowing costs for southern eurozone states.

But the bank is expected to outline rather than detail its strategy tomorrow to keep the pressure on politicians to bring their deficits and debts under control.

Italian prime minister Mario Monti and French President François Hollande said after talks in Rome that European institutions must act to bring down the bond yields of countries that are unjustifiably penalised by markets.