At today's meeting, the ECB Council raised the ELA ceiling by €0.9bn. The new limit would apply for one week, after which the ECB would reassess the situation.



Draghi justified the slight increase in the ceiling by referring to the altered situation. He explicitly mentioned the vote in the Greek parliament, the approval of a bridge financing package and the votes in parliaments of other euro zone countries. Today's decision can be seen as a political gesture, whereby the ECB extends a helping hand to Greece, but in fact does little to reduce pressure on the country.



Statements about monetary policy took a back seat. Mr Draghi confirmed the need to ensure "full implementation" of all monetary policy measures. The latter is a further rejection of any speculation over an early end to QE.



Unlike the last press conference, Draghi emphasised that the ECB would respond to "unwarranted tightening of monetary policy" or a "material" change in the outlook for price stability with further measures.



"This is in line with the expectation that the ECB will continue with the purchases beyond September 2016, or even increase the purchase volume before then", says Commerzbank.