Germany's next representative to the European Central Bank's Executive Board would have voted against restarting bond purchases but considers the tool valid, she told a confirmation hearing in the EU Parliament on Tuesday.

"I’m not sure it was absolutely necessary to restart the asset purchases at that time," Isabel Schnabel said. "If I had voted, maybe I would have said maybe we wait with the asset purchases. But in the end of course probably the decision would have been the same."

The ECB voted in September to restart indefinite bond purchases, even as a third of the 25-member Governing Council opposed the move.

She added that recent economic data have been more benign than feared, supporting expectations that the euro zone will avoid a recession.