Accounts of September 11-12 ECB policy meeting showed rather wide division in opinion regarding the new stimulus package. That was inline with comments from ECB officials after that meeting. The accounts noted, “a number of reservations were expressed about individual elements of the proposed policy package”. Also, “although the rational for a comprehensive package was widely shared, members assessed the case for specific elements differently, with some measures seen as substitutes rather than compliments.”
In particular, while here was a “clear majority” favoring restart of QE, “a number of members assessed the case for renewed net asset purchases as not sufficiently strong”. QE was deemed to be a “less efficient instrument, or “an instrument of last resort”. The cut in deposit rate to -0.5% was passed by a “very large majority”. But, “lower money market trading volumes for longer tenors suggested that the conviction about cuts significantly deeper into negative territory was not broad-based and uncertainty over the future path of short-term policy rates remained elevated.”
