ECB must be independent - Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today the European Central Bank (ECB) must not be put under political pressure and that …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today the European Central Bank (ECB) must not be put under political pressure and that its independence should be upheld.

"The independence of the ECB must be safeguarded," said Ms Merkel. She was speaking at a Christian Democrat (CDU) party event in Berlin with ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet.

Ms Merkel said she appreciated Mr Trichet's support for her bid to boost transparency in highly-leveraged hedge funds that she had made part of her programme for the Group of Eight Summit in Heiligendamm last week.

"We should have the necessary amount of regulation," Ms Merkel told a conference of economic experts for her party. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for national leaders to have a bigger voice in euro zone economic governance, which some analysts view as a veiled threat to ECB independence, although he disputes this.