BERLIN (AP) - Retiring European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet has rejected criticism that politicians influence the bank, insisting that it acts independently, including in measures to help ease the European debt crisis.
Trichet stressed in comments to Germany's Bild am Sonntag weekly that the ECB is "completely independent" in making its decisions.
He insisted in the comments released Saturday that the ECB's government bond-buying program was based on fiscal policy and not the demands of the 17 nations using the common currency.
The purchases prevented the crisis spreading to more countries but opened the bank up to criticism that it was bowing to political pressure.