Interview with ECB Exec Board Member Schnabel...>

ECB: Interview with ECB Exec Board Member Schnabel In La Repubblica:

- Q: Some populists in Italy say; if we request access to the ESM, we will have

the troika one day or another. How do you respond to this? And how is this

linked to the Outright Monetary Transactions (OMTs)?

- A: The current proposal foresees that accessing ESM funds today will not lead

to an economic adjustment programme tomorrow. I fully understand that there are

fears of austerity. This is certainly not what is needed at the current

juncture. This has been well-understood by European leaders. As regards the link

to OMTs, their use requires an ESM programme. A second important point is that

there is no automatic link between a country asking for an ESM programme and the

activation of OMTs. The latter is a decision by the ECB's Governing Council. For

now, we have deliberately decided to implement a new purchase programme, the

PEPP, that is tailor-made for this particular type of emergency. This programme

has an ample degree of embedded flexibility, and it is the right tool to deal

with the current crisis. OMTs were designed for a different type of crisis, but

they remain an important part of our toolbox.