Widening spreads between German government bonds and those of Italy, Greece and other eurozone countries are a "wake-up call" for policy makers, Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, warned yesterday.

Mr Trichet urged European governments to heed warning signals from the region's debt markets and "be very cautious as regards fiscal policies" as the gap between the yield on Italian government bonds and the benchmark 10-year German Bund opened up to its widest since the 1999 birth of the euro.