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BRUSSELS, Feb 9 (Reuters) - European companies urged the European Central Bank on Monday to cut interest rates further and consider directly buying government and corporate debt on secondary markets, to cushion the effects of the credit crunch.
The ECB left rates unchanged at 2 percent at its meeting last Thursday, but signalled it may reduce them in March.
"Over the past months, the ECB has done a great job, but the business community is convinced that interest rates will need to be cut further," BusinessEurope said in a statement it delivered to ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet at a meeting on Monday.
The bank has cut interest rates by 225 basis points since October as inflationary pressures fell quickly together with the price of oil in a sharply slowing economy.
But lower rates may not be enough to get lending going again, BusinessEurope, which represents 20 million European companies, said.
"The ECB should also consider, like the U.S. Fed or the Bank of England, measures of quantitative as well as qualitative easing, i.e. direct purchase of government and corporate debt on secondary markets," it said.
BusinessEurope, just hours before France was due to unveil a plan to help its carmakers, also called on EU policymakers to resist all forms of protectionism.
"At present, the business community is very concerned about the impact of uncoordinated national proposals that will give rise to financial protectionism across Europe," the statement said.
The business group called on EU finance ministers, who meet later on Monday and on Tuesday, to agree on a plan to return to sound public finances after a period of large budget deficits, inflated by recession-related spending.
"We are particularly alarmed about the lack of a credible medium-term strategy towards sustainable public finances," BusinessEurope President Ernest-Antoine Seilliere said. (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, editing by Dale Hudson)