BERLIN, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said he supported Germany's proposals to tighten EU's grip on member states' budget, local media reported on Monday.
In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, Draghi said he "completely supported" suggestion by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble that aims to give Brussels greater power over national budgets.
"I am certain that if we want to restore confidence in the eurozone, countries will have to transfer part of their sovereignty to the European level," Draghi said, noting that governments in some eurozone countries have not realized that they lost their national sovereignty long ago.
"Because they ran up huge debts in the past, they are now dependent on the goodwill of the financial markets," Draghi said.
Earlier this month, Schaeuble proposed sweeping reforms to stabilize the currency bloc and foster further integration.
Under his plans, the EU currency affairs commissioner will hold veto power over national budgets, making it possible for Brussels to ask a national parliament to remake its budget proposal if the commissioner feels the deficit in the draft was too high.
At present, the European commission is only entitled to making recommendations to member states on improvements in their budgets.
However, such reforms would need changes to EU treaties and thus give rise to opposition from EU integration sceptics like Britain.
Draghi lauded efforts in the currency union to fight the debt crisis, saying that governments have taken steps that would have been unthinkable a year ago.
But he also warned that the progress so far is not enough. The ECB chief also took the chance to defend his plan of buying unlimited amounts of short-term bonds of troubled euro economies so as to drive down their borrowing costs.
The plan met with scepticism in Germany despite Chancellor Angela Merkel's support. German central bank president Jens Weidmann warned that the plan comes too close to using the ECB's power to print money, and the ECB is not allowed to support governments' finances directly.
To allay fears that unlimited bond purchases could undermine the ECB's mission of fighting inflation, Draghi has told German lawmakers last week that the bank's independence will be protected as governments have to comply with conditionality.
He added that the ECB would decide whether to intervene "based on its own assessment of monetary policy transmission and with the aim of safeguarding price stability."
According to the bond-buying plan named OMT, member states who wish their bonds to be purchased by ECB, would have to apply for aid from European rescue funds, and accept strict conditions attached.
"My family once lost a large part of its savings through inflation. So you can be sure that I champion price stability not just for professional reasons but also for personal reasons," Draghi said.
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