Cracks showing in Germany's fragile truce with the ECB

That message is unlikely to go down well in Berlin. In addition to concerns about the distorting effects of QE on financial markets and the impact of low interest rates on German savers and insurers, the political landscape in Germany has become decidedly more toxic for the ECB over the past months.

With one year to go until the next federal election, the AfD has risen to a record high of 16 percent in national polls. On the defensive, Merkel's conservatives are desperate to shift the debate away from her increasingly unpopular stance on refugees.