Germany welcomes ECB promise to secure euro

[July 27, 2012]  BERLIN (AP) -- Germany's finance minister has welcomed a pledge by the European Central Bank's president to do what's needed to save the euro but stresses that politicians must act to resolve countries' problems.

Mario Draghi said Thursday the ECB would "do whatever it takes to preserve the euro." His comments raised expectations he could step in to lower high borrowing costs for countries like Spain and Italy -- possibly through bond purchases, which haven't been popular in Germany.

A ministry statement Friday said Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble welcomes Draghi's pledge to "take the necessary measures to secure the euro in the framework of the existing ECB mandate."

It added: "The condition for this is that policymakers also take and implement the necessary measures to deal with the financial and confidence crisis."

[Associated Press]

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