Without reforms in Rome, the ECB could stop its purchases

The European Central Bank (ECB) often discussed the possibility of ending its purchases of sovereign debt in case the Italian Rome would not implement the promised reforms, said Yves Mersch, a member of the Governing Council of the ECB .

"If we find that (effective) our work is undermined by a lack of efforts of national governments, then we must ask us to question the effect (of interventions)," said he in an interview published Sunday by the newspaper La Stampa.

Asked if this meant that the ECB could stop buying Italian bonds, Yves Mersch, head of the Central Bank of Luxembourg, answers:

"If the council of the ECB concluded that the conditions that had led him to make a decision no longer exist, it can change that decision at any time. We talk all the time."

This is partly because the yields of Spanish and Italian sovereign bonds in early August had reached a level considered difficult to sustain over the long term for these countries to more than 6%, the ECB had resumed its buyback program obligations.

Since the last three months, it bought for about 100 billion shares, of which over half were Italian government bonds.

Friday, the yield on Italian 10-year loans reached a new high since the creation of the euro area, 6.43% due to the distrust inspired investors in the country, where a vote of confidence in the House planned Tuesday could bring down the coalition government led by Silvio Berlusconi.

At the G20 summit in Cannes last Thursday and Friday, Silvio Berlusconi, also faces the distrust of his own camp, asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to monitor the implementation of its commitments to reform.

Yves Mersch has also defended the right of the Italian Lorenzon Bini Smaghi to remain on the board of the ECB despite the fact that Italy will now have two members from any and France after leaving the presidency of the ECB Jean-Claude Trichet.