European Central Bank President Mario Draghi hit back at Germancriticism of his plan to intervene in bond markets and remindedEurope's largest economy of its responsibility to anchor theeuro.

The ECB “will always act within the limits of its mandate,”Draghi wrote in a commentary for German newspaper Die Zeit providedby the Frankfurt-based ECB today. “Yet it should be understood thatfulfilling our mandate sometimes requires us to go beyond standardmonetary policy tools.”

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann and some German politicianshave lashed out at Draghi's plan to resume government bondpurchases to lower borrowing costs in countries such as Italy andSpain. Draghi's riposte comes as Chancellor Angela Merkel, who hassignaled broad support for ECB bond buying, hosts Italian PrimeMinister Mario Monti in Berlin today.