Trichet: 'Irresponsible' EU States Must Tow the Line

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet Friday put more pressure on euro-zone governments, indicating that the ECB won't make up for any "irresponsible" action on their side.

"The European governments have to fulfill their duties in full," he said at an event organized by Germany's conservative CSU party in Wildbad Kreuth. Governments should rigorously implement their national adjustment programs and considerably reinforce their collective governance efforts, he said.
"Monetary policy responsibility cannot substitute for government irresponsibility," Mr. Trichet said. He repeated his call for a "quantum leap" in economic governance in the euro area, and called for "further significant progress" on the reduction of excessive fiscal deficits.

"Europe cannot afford to rest halfway—we need to be more ambitious," he said. "The proposals that we have seen in Brussels do not go far enough in the ECB's view," he reiterated.

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