German Chancellor Angela Merkel thanked ECB President Mario Draghi for spelling out to leaders at an EU summit that governments must play a role in boosting the faltering euro zone economy, and said it was their firm intention to do so.
"I am very thankful to Mario Draghi for holding up a mirror for us once again," Merkel told a news conference in Brussels on Friday, a day after Reuters reported tensions in the relationship between Berlin and the Italian ECB president.
"Monetary policy can do some things, that is the job of the independent European Central Bank. But if fiscal policy doesn't react simultaneously, if we don't improve our economic policies, our competitiveness and our investment climate, then we won't come out of this unsatisfactory situation," Merkel said.
She added that leaders had expressed their "clear intention" to do all this in response to the weak economy.
Asked specifically about her government's ties with Draghi, she said: "The ECB works independently and for us in Germany that is very important but I want to say clearly that I really appreciate the way that Mario Draghi participates in discussions about the further development of the euro zone and that he said today that he was prepared to cooperate when it comes to closer coordination of economic policy."
"I am banking on good cooperation with the ECB in the areas which concern me and us as leaders," she added.
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