Merkel and her coalition partners hadn't reneged on their tax-cutting campaign promises and raised VAT and other taxes in a bid to stay close to budget balance.
This is where the Fed switches from buying short-term Treasury securities to buying long-term ones in a bid to push down long-term yields without increasing its balance sheet.
Despite an ongoing criminal investigation into BPI and worries about the strength of its balance sheet, Mr Fazio gave the bank his approval to proceed with the bid.
The main difference and the predominant reason for the current EUR bid market is the perception that the ECB is actually paying down debt on its balance sheet.