The ECB’ single mandate is to maintain inflation below 2% target, in comparison to three mandates that the U. S. Fed has – inflation modulation, maximum employment and lately financial stability.
At Global Investment Conference in London on July 26, 2012, Mr. Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank declared forcefully that “to the extent that the size of these sovereign premia hampers the functioning of the monetary policy transmission channel, they come within our mandate”. He promised that “within our mandate, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me, it will be enough.”
This is a very creative way to broad the ECB’s mandate within the current the ECB legal framework. It is a clear indiction to me that EU zone integration has entered a new era and such consensus has reached among the nations in the monetary zone that more integration is necessary on the front of monetary, financial, economic and finally political.
Mr. Draghi’s speech is posted on the ECB website, link as below:
http://www.ecb.int/press/key/date/2012/html/sp120726.en.html