Battle of Wills Between ECB and Bundesbank Chiefs Continues

The war of wills between ECB chief Mario Draghi and Germany’s Bundesbank continues, as the chance that the European Central Bank will have a free hand in buying sovereign debt of weak nations in the region dwindles. The battle continues to worry…

By Trey Thoelcke
Published August 3, 2012, 7:27am ET · 1 min read

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The war of wills between ECB chief Mario Draghi and Germany’s Bundesbank continues, as the chance that the European Central Bank will have a free hand in buying sovereign debt of weak nations in the region dwindles. The battle continues to worry markets, which believe that Spain is near default because its borrowing costs are more than 7% on 10-year notes and it has no stimulus to cut into its 25% unemployment rate.

Germany has taken a radical stance, based on a public declaration that it controls the destiny of the ECB. The notion may seem brash, but it is true. Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said, “We are the largest and most important central bank in the Eurosystem and we have a greater say than many other central banks in the Eurosystem,” according to Bloomberg. It is his ball and it appears he will take it home so none of the other nations can play.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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Trey Thoelcke

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.
Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community.
Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.
Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions.

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