Ms Lagarde has stressed the bloc has the tools to deal with a gloomy economic outlook following months of chaos as the bloc responds to a third wave of the virus. Lagarde told Bloomberg how the ECB will do all it can to protect the EU in the coming months. But her comments come as countries outside the eurozone begin to recover quicker.
Ms Lagarde was asked whether global markets are testing the European Central Bank despite investors circling around the ECB as they try to push bond yields higher which threatens to undermine the euro area’s recovery.
She replied: “They can test us as much they want.
“We have a mandate, we have an aim, we are going to be riveted to that and we are going to do what is required in order to deliver on that.
“And we have exceptional circumstances to deal with at the moment and we have exceptional tools to use at the moment.
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She added: “And we will use them as and when needed in order to deliver on our mandate and deliver on our pledge to the economy.”
Ms Lagarde added the blocs 750 billion-euro joint recovery fund will start being deployed as scheduled in the second half of the year.
The bank presidents comments come despite major concerns over the eurozone’s financial state as it is struggling under chaotic virus restrictions and a sluggish jab rollout.
The ECB predicts the EU economy will grow 4% this year but that won’t be enough to claw back last year’s shrink of 6.6%.
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Mr Longworth concluded: “They can’t go on forever and Britain, by comparison, has detached itself from that.”
The bloc’s recovery has been further blighted further by a chaotic vaccine rollout which has now led to the U.K. placing a number of EU countries on a ‘no go’ travel list this summer.
Travellers have been advised to avoid popular locations such as Spain and Greece as the bloc struggle to get control of the virus.
France is also battling a third wave of the virus and this week Macron plunged the entire country into a third national lockdown.
