In a second move, ECB president Mario Draghi cut the benchmark rates from 1.25% to 1% on December 8, 2011. The rate cut was done to encourage banks to lend again, during the European debt crisis.
As shown in this report:
“The European Central Bank cut interest rates and announced further unorthodox measures to boost liquidity but ECB President Mario Draghi disappointed markets by stopping short of pledging more aggressive bond buying.”
CNBC, December 8, 2011