Last week’s decision by the European Central Bank to make unlimited purchases of government bonds in secondary markets was both necessary and bold. Mario Draghi, the ECB’s president, deserves credit for having obtained agreement for this controversial step, against the sole, albeit significant, opposition of Jens Weidmann, president of Germany’s redoubtable Bundesbank. It is a pity that the ECB did not do this before the crisis in sovereign debt reached Spain and Italy. Yet this delay is not surprising: eurozone policy makers have, perhaps inevitably, done too little, too late.

欧洲央行(ECB)在二级市场无限制购买政府债券的决定，既必要又大胆。欧洲央行行长马里奥·德拉吉(Mario Draghi)顶住德国令人敬畏的央行(Bundesbank)行长延斯·魏德曼(Jens Weidmann)孤立（尽管重要）的反对，推动各方就这个有争议的步骤达成一致，此举值得赞赏。可惜欧洲央行没有在主权债务危机波及西班牙和意大利之前采取这项行动，但拖延并不意外：欧元区政策制定者总是做得太少、太迟，这也许是不可避免的。

It is not the ECB’s fault that this action is too little. Its aim is to eliminate the risk of a eurozone breakup forced by the markets. But it cannot achieve this on its own. Ensuring the survival of the eurozone is a political decision. The ECB can only influence, not determine, the outcome.

做得不够并非欧洲央行之过。它意图消除市场带来的欧元区解体风险，却无法独自实现目标。确保欧元区的生存是一项政治决策，欧洲央行只能影响结果，但不能决定结果。

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