Germany's constitutional court threatened to block fresh purchases of German bonds through the European Central Bank's program.
According to Tuesday's court ruling, the ECB had failed to "conduct the necessary balancing of the monetary policy objective against the economic policy effects arising from the program," and the decisions the central bank had made around PSPP exceeded its monetary policy mandate.
Bini Smaghi noted that the president of the Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, had explained several times that while the ECB's purchase program has several economic impacts, the overall effect on price stability was consistent with its objective. "If one takes more seriously it's a bit worrying, because if the ECB really had to look into all the pros and cons … will it have to balance its price stability mandate with the impact on some people, some borrowers?" he said. "This would infringe, in the end, the independence of the ECB. So I'm not sure whether it's laughable or it's serious — and then dangerous for the independence of the ECB.
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