Euro Leaders Said to Count on Further ECB Bond Purchases

Euro-area leaders are counting on the European Central Bank to continue buying troubled countries’ bonds as a key element in the debt crisis rescue package to be hammered out tomorrow, three people familiar with the deliberations said.

Leaders are debating how to obtain an ECB signal without appearing to give orders to the politically independent central bank, said the people, who declined to be named because decisions won’t be made until tomorrow’s summit. The central bank has bought 169.5 billion euros ($236 billion) in bonds so far, in an increasingly controversial policy that contributed to decisions by both Germans on its council to quit this year.