According to BusinessInsider:…ECB chief Mario Draghi spoke to this in a speech to the European parliament last week.
What he hinted, basically, was that the ECB could take a bigger role in ending the crisis and funding national governments, only if the governments took major steps towards joint fiscal reform. See, it's not enough for a government to just announce austerity, and then expect help from the ECB for the simple reason that austerity can always be revoked once the ECB has committed to backstopping the government. What's needed, therefore, is a fiscal compact. Everyone handcuffs themselves to each other, promising to not go into the red, and to be punished by the others if they do.
To this point, the FT's Wolfgang Münchau makes an important clarification: Contrary to what is being reported, Ms Merkel is not proposing a fiscal union. She is proposing an austerity club, a stability pact on steroids. The goal is to enforce life-long austerity, with balanced budget rules enshrined in every national constitution. She also proposes automatic sanctions with a judicially administered regime of compliance. She rejects eurobonds on the grounds that they reduce pressure on fiscal discipline.
Münchau calls it an austerity club. A "misery club" would also be a fine word for it. The deal is: You get to be in the club with Germany, with all that entails (presumably an ECB backstop, otherwise there's no point), and all you have to give up is your ability to stimulate your economy….
Read more at http://www.businessinsider.com/germanys-plan-for-europe-everyone-gets-to-be-miserable-2011-12
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