/ECB: Per RTRS: "The independence of the......>

ITALY: /ECB: Per RTRS: "The independence of the European Central Bank is key to

the foundations of the European Union and no constitutional court should decide

what it can or cannot do, Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on

Wednesday. On Tuesday, Germany's highest court gave the bank three months to

justify bond purchases under its flagship stimulus programme or lose the

Bundesbank as a participant. "It is not up to any constitutional court to decide

what the ECB can or cannot do. Its independence is the fulcrum of the European

treaties, which are recognised by Germany too," Conte told the newspaper, Il

Fatto Quotidiano, in an interview. "I find it out of place for a national court,

although a constitutional one, to ask the ECB to justify its purchases. It

cannot interfere in these initiatives," he added."

- A somewhat predictable round of comments in the wake of yesterday's events.