Lawmaker says Germany should not have same ECB voting rights 'as Malta'

Several lawmakers in Angela Merkel's coalition are demanding radical reform of the European Central Bank's voting structure to strengthen Germany's influence, highlighting worries in Europe's biggest economy about the bank's bond-buying plans. Many Germans are becoming increasingly uneasy about the direction of the ECB under President Mario Draghi, especially after his announcement that the bank may start buying government debt to reduce crippling Spanish and Italian borrowing costs. Fed up with bailing out euro zone states, some Germans fear a new ECB bond-buying programme would amount to the financing of governments - something the bank is not supposed to do. They also argue it would ease pressure on governments to cut debt. "We need a new alignment of voting weights in the ECB's decision-making committees according to the proportion of liability (a country takes on)," conservative lawmaker and euro sceptic Klaus-Peter Willsch was quoted as saying by Handelsblatt on Thursday. "As the main creditor, Germany must get a veto right in all questions," he said, adding that Draghi had strayed from his mandate of securing monetary stability. Willsch is a well-known rebel in...