Trichet Keeps Up EU Pressure as ECB Buys Bonds to Calm Investors
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Jean-Claude Trichet is keeping the onus on governments to fix the debt crisis as the European Central Bank buys bonds to win politicians time to cut deficits.
Warning European Union leaders that they can’t rely on “benign neglect” to quell market turmoil, Trichet, the ECB’s president, is deploying a two-pronged strategy to ease roiled markets. The bank snapped up Portuguese and Irish bonds again today after Trichet yesterday assured investors that policy makers will delay the withdrawal of emergency liquidity.