BRUSSELS: The head of the European Central Bank pledged Monday to do everything needed to preserve the embattled single currency, vowing the "euro is here to stay" and downplaying current market turmoil.
Speaking at the European Parliament in Brussels, Mario Draghi stressed: "The euro is here to stay and the euro area will take the necessary steps to ensure that."
"Why then do we still have tensions in a number of market segments? Let me first stress that a lot has been done at country as well as euro area level in terms of economic reforms and governance. But we need full implementation," he added.
He called for the eurozone to "move towards a further sharing of sovereignty in the fiscal, financial and economic domains."
Following a cut in interest rates to a historic low of 0.75 percent on Thursday, Draghi said that the current market conditions were not as bad as six months ago.
"I have said many times that if you compare today's world with six months ago .. when we were at the closest to a major credit accident ... the world is a completely different one," he told European deputies.
Draghi reiterated the ECB's view was that there would be a "weakening of growth and heightened uncertainty" in the second quarter of 2012.
Nevertheless, he said that further ahead, he expected the euro area to "recover gradually, albeit with dampened momentum."
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