Mario Draghi called on the European Central Bank (ECB) to makeits biggest push yet to fend off deflation and revive the economyby unleashing a debt-buying spree of 1.1 trillion euros (US$1.3trillion).

The ECB president and his Executive Board proposed spending 50billion euros a month through December 2016, two euro-areacentral-bank officials said. The plan still faces a tense debate inthe Governing Council and may change before the final decision onThursday, the people said, asking not to be identified as the talksare private. An ECB spokesman declined to comment.

By urging Fed-style quantitative easing (QE), Draghi isremodeling the ECB as an aggressive central bank that will takerisks even against the wishes of Germany, the region's biggesteconomy. Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann and Executive Boardmember Sabine Lautenschlaeger have argued QE isn't needed andreduces the incentive of governments to make structuralreforms.