Germany, Italy vow to protect Eurozone

(Berlin) – German and Italian leaders have pledged to do everything to protect the eurozone, the German government said further underlining European politicians’ determination to get a grip on the continent’s debt crisis, but again offering no details of any action.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Premier Mario Monti spoke by phone and “agreed that Germany and Italy will do everything to protect the eurozone,” German government spokesman Georg Streiter said in a statement. That was identical to the wording of a statement issued by Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, which in turn came a day after Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, said the ECB would do “whatever it takes” to preserve the Euro.
None of the leaders have said anything about any specific action. But the comments raised expectations that the ECB might step in to buy Spanish and perhaps Italian government bonds to lower the countries’ borrowing costs, which have been worryingly high in recent weeks. Merkel and Monti agreed that decisions made by last month’s European Union summit “must be implemented as quickly as possible,” Streiter said.