Last week’s decision by the European Central Bank to make unlimited purchases of government bonds in secondary markets was both necessary and bold. Mario Draghi, the ECB’s president, deserves credit for having obtained agreement for this controversial step, against the sole, albeit significant, opposition of Jens Weidmann, president of Germany’s redoubtable Bundesbank. It is a pity that the ECB did not do this before the crisis in sovereign debt reached Spain and Italy. Yet this delay is not surprising: eurozone policy makers have, perhaps inevitably, done too little, too late.
欧洲央行(ECB)在二级市场无限制购买政府债券的决定，既必要又大胆。欧洲央行行长马里奥•德拉吉(Mario Draghi)顶住德国令人敬畏的央行(Bundesbank)行长延斯•魏德曼(Jens Weidmann)孤立（尽管重要）的反对，推动各方就这个有争议的步骤达成一致，此举值得赞赏。可惜欧洲央行没有在主权债务危机波及西班牙和意大利之前采取这项行动，但拖延并不意外：欧元区政策制定者总是做得太少、太迟，这也许是不可避免的。