The European Central Bank insisted on Friday that its contested OMT bond buying programme did not breach its rules, after Germany's constitutional court expressed some scepticism.
"The ECB takes note of the announcement made today by the German constitutional court. The ECB reiterates that the OMT programme falls within its mandate," the central bank said in a short statement.
The constitutional court announced shortly before that it would consult the European Court of Justice with regard to the OMT programme.
Uli Deck, DPA/AFP
Members of the Coalition for Direct Democracy cover their faces with sacks as they demonstrate in front of the German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe on June 11, 2013 during hearings on the ECB's OMT bond buying programme
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It found "there are important reasons to suggest that it goes beyond the mandate of the European Central Bank's monetary policy and encroaches on the responsibility of the member states and contravenes the ban on monetary deficit financing."
Nevertheless, "the senate believes it is possible" that limitations could be imposed on the OMT programme in such a way as to make it compatible with EU law, the court added.
hollywoodtone.blogspot.com ECB insists bond buying programme 'within mandate'