ECB Has Green Light to Buy Gov't Bonds from Troubled States

The European Central Bank (ECB) has the right to buy government securities from EU members undergoing a financial crisis, a Luxembourg court has ruled.

Under its newly-adopted arrangements the ECB, which oversees the single currency (euro) will be able to buy, in case of need, an unlimited number of securities.

With its Tuesday ruling the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice (ECJ) has virtually allowed the ECB to take the step in case a crisis is threatening the single currency union.

Plans of the ECB to use the measure as a last resort if necessary were previously "controversially" perceived, but the court
believes they are fully in line with the financial authority's existing competences.

"The program does not go beyond the ECB's competences in currency policies and does not defy the ban to finance member states," Der Spiegel's website quotes the ECJ as saying.

Earlier ECB chief Mario Draghi had vowed that the bank "is ready to do anything within its mandate that is needed to save the Euro".

OMTs could help the ECB control interest rates and enable euro area members to borrow money at a more affordable price.

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