The European Central Bank would be reluctant to extend emergency help to countries beyond the eurozone, a member of its governing council has made clear.

The ECB did not have 'a mandate to be a regional United Nations agency', Yves Mersch, governor of Luxembourg’s central bank, told the Financial Times.

His comments highlighted resistance within the ECB’s governing council to offering financial support to other regions. They amounted to a rebuff to nine international banks active in central and eastern Europe that the FT reported yesterday had appealed for EU assistance in countries such as Serbia and Ukraine.

Financial Times