People are right to ask why we felt it necessary to announce the programme for government bond purchases. One thing should be clear: responding to the crisis of confidence, while maintaining price stability, will benefit German taxpayers and savers. SPIEGEL: Then please explain it to us. Draghi: The crisis of confidence means that money is flowing to Germany.
This depresses interest rates in Germany and increases interest rates in other countries to unjustifiably high levels. Put simply, interest rates reflected, among other things, speculation that the euro area could break up. This speculation was unfounded, and we had to counter it. SPIEGEL: And so you decided to help out the governments in Rome and Madrid.