So having a narrow mandate allows us to spell out what the ECB can and can’t do and remind other players of their responsibilities and, in some cases, their shortcomings. It also gives us a great deal of flexibility, since the objective of price stability leaves us plenty of scope to choose our tools, as has been seen during the crisis.
The ECB has found itself very exposed politically at certain times during the crisis. Recently in the case of Greece, its decisions to no longer accept Greek securities as collateral and then to limit the volume of government securities held by banks have been perceived as an attempt to put pressure on the Greek government.