European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi appears to be in a constant tug of war in his relationship with Germany.

When former Bundesbank president Axel Weber stepped down and was no longer a candidate to replace Jean-Claude Trichet at the helm of the ECB, Draghi was seen as the candidate closest to Germany's stance on policy. His Italian nationality posed a problem to some German critics but Merkel supported Draghi for his strong anti-inflationary background.

However, Draghi will not want to be known as the ECB president that allowed the euro to collapse. As such, he firmly announced the unlimited purchase of sovereign bonds from ailing countries in spite of German criticism, including from ECB colleague Jens Weidmann.

Analysts have praised Draghi for his leadership as he tries to find a common middle-ground between helping Spain and Italy and adhering to Germany's reluctance to start the 'printing press'. So confident is Draghi in his actions that he offered to appear before Germany's members of parliament. "If the Bundestag invited me, I'd gladly come," he told Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

Draghi showed his willingness to help Spain and Italy in the last ECB meeting. However, he continues to play both sides of the Eurozone's monetary policy.

One one hand, he praised the "extraordinary progress" made in reforms in Spain and Italy, "particularly if you consider what they have done over the past 6 months in comparison with what they did not do for many years."

On the other hand, Draghi also wants to make sure that they do not steer off track. "The direction of policies in many countries was flawed and needed to be corrected", he explained. "This process is currently under way. But much still needs to be done".

MG

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