Accounts of the European Central Bank's last meeting show it is committed to completing its 1.1 trillion-euro ($1.2 trillion) stimulus program. The bank launched the program in March, just as the economy started improving. But minutes to the ECB's April 15 policy meeting released Thursday confirm it is committed to its "firm implementation" until at least September next year.

The program involves buying bonds to boost credit and economic activity. The ECB's governing council, the minutes say, "reaffirmed its intention to conduct purchases until the end of September 2016 and, in any case, until a sustained adjustment was visible in the path of inflation." The policymakers said they also needed to send a strong signal to eurozone governments to not let up on efforts to reform their economies.