ECB, under fire from Germany, set to defend independence

The European Central Bank, increasingly under fire in Germany over its ultra-loose monetary policies, will likely go out of its way to defend its independence at next week's governing council meeting, analysts said. ECB president Mario Draghi "will respond to German politicians' recent criticism ... by reiterating the bank's independence and stressing that more support is still possible," said Capital Economics economist Jennifer McKeown. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has been unusu