Influential Bank of Greece (BoG) Gov. Yannis Stournaras on Tuesday reiterated that the country’s central bank has an obligation to warn, in a timely and public manner, of possible risks that may disrupt the monetary and credit stability in the country.
Stournaras, a former finance minister in a government preceding the current leftist-rightist coalition, has never been popular with the Tsipras government or leftist SYRIZA party, although the BoG’s eurozone-mandated autonomous status affords him heightened independence.
Speaking a customary after-New Year’s event, Stournaras said Greece’s central bank has often been the target of “vested interests” that aim to weaken its institutional role to the benefit of policies “opposed to the basic principles of its charter”.
As such, he cited the terrorist mail-bomb attack against former prime minister and BoG gov. Lucas Papademos, among others.
