The European Central Bank, moving quickly to defuse the German constitutional dispute over government bond purchases, is stepping up its commitment to ‘proportionality’ in policy actions – ending, at least temporarily, an impasse with the German parliament. The ECB has reinforced its vocabulary in reacting to the German constitutional court’s allegations that it insufficiently considered negative side effects from full-scale quantitative easing started in 2015. The central bank running Europe’s monetary union has demonstrated linguistic sensitivity to a more exacting political environment amid demands for more ... (full story)