It therefore also exposed itself to the danger of coming under political pressure to ease the burden on fiscal policy time and time again and consequently weakened the disciplinary function of the capital markets. 5 / 13  BIS central bankers' speeches  Moreover, the purchases resulted in sovereign liability risks being mutualised via the Eurosystem’s balance sheet.
However, the mutualisation of sovereign liability risks is inherently a political decision. Governments and parliaments, and not the central banks, have the task of determining which burdens the taxpayers in the member states should ultimately shoulder in order to stabilise the euro area. The independence of the central banks requires a narrow mandate and a clear separation from fiscal policy.