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Michael Fuchs, deputy parliamentary floor leader
of the German chancellor's Christian Democrats (CDU), told
Deutschlandfunk radio on Friday: "We shouldn't pump extra money
into these states, but rather make sure they continue along the
reform path.
"I'd be grateful if (ECB President Mario) Mr Draghi would make
statements along these lines."
In an interview with German financial daily Handelsblatt
published on Friday, Draghi urged politicians to implement
necessary reforms, reduce tax burdens and cut red tape to
support a fragile euro zone recovery.
He also said the risk of the central bank not fulfilling its
price stability mandate was higher now than half a year ago, and
reiterated its readiness to act soon if needed, with government
bond purchases among the tools it could use.
With the euro zone flirting with deflation, financial markets
interpreted Draghi's comments on Friday as strongly suggesting
the ECB would soon embark on outright money-printing, and the
euro sank to a 4-1/2 year low against the dollar.
Printing money to buy government bonds, a measure known as
quantitative easing (QE), is seen as one of the last tools the
ECB has to revive inflation. The bank has already pushed its key
interest rate down to a record low of 0.05 percent and doubts
are growing about the impact of earlier measures.
"I expect there to be fierce discussion over this at the next
ECB meeting," said Fuchs, referring to opposition to the
bond-buying plan by the head of the Bundesbank Jens Weidmann.
The ECB's next policy meeting is on Jan. 22.
Fuchs has frequently expressed frustration felt by many German
politicians and the public about the pace of reform in
twice-bailed-out Greece.
He was quoted as saying in a newspaper interview published on
Wednesday that euro zone politicians were not obliged to rescue
Greece as the country was no longer of systemic importance to
the single currency bloc.
Greece holds a general election just three days after the ECB
meeting and polls suggest the left-wing Syriza party, which
rejects the terms of Greece's euro zone bailouts, will emerge as
the strongest party.
(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Noah Barkin and John
Stonestreet)
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