FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — European Central Bank head Mario Draghi is defending a central bank program that has been credited with calming market turmoil over the continent’s debt crisis, ahead of closely watched hearings in a court challenge to the program next week.

In the text of a speech to a conference in Shanghai, China, Draghi on Monday rejected criticism of the bank’s program to purchase government bonds, saying it had defused fears the eurozone might break up.