Merkel :EU leaders must not dictate to ECB

European Union governments must not be allowed, at Wednesday's summit, to decide European Central Bank action, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference on Tuesday. "We must not allow a misunderstanding, whereby politicians expect something from the ECB," Merkel said, referring to the role the central bank might play in helping deal with the eurozone debt crisis. "We are negotiating with a view to have the ECB put forward its own point of view" on how it wants to help deal with the crisis, she said. Germany is strongly attached to the ECB's independence and has long defended its right to be the final arbiter of monetary policy. A statement currently being discussed for Wednesday's EU summit refers to demands by EU leaders that the ECB maintain support measures for banks and indebted eurozone governments. "Germany does not accept such a sentence in the communique," Merkel told reporters following a meeting with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed. The proposed EU statement says: "We fully support the ECB in its action to ensure price stability in the euro area, including its non-standard measures in the current exceptional financial market environment." The ECB has so far bought a total 169.5 billion euros in eurozone government bonds since it first began such operations early last year as part of efforts to ease debt strains in the 17-nation bloc. Current plans would see a newly boosted European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) take over responsibility from the ECB for buying the bonds of debt-troubled countries. German newspapers on Tuesday expressed concern however that the EFSF would not have the firepower needed to deal with contagion if the crisis spreads further. Quoting diplomatic sources, several newspapers suggested the ECB would have to continue helping the EFSF provide financial clout to deal with the crisis. Merkel appears determined to maintain a firewall between the EFSF and the ECB which by its constitution is supposed to be free of all outside political influence.