Open market operations on public Euro debt are allowed.

Now, when he says "the ECB cannot help Greece" he's assuming that Greece is bankrupt and needs an ECB loan and there's nothing else that can be done to help Greece.

In fact, Greek traded debt instruments are being subject to speculative attack in the markets and the as part of a "pump-and-dump" operation in which market price volatility is talked up as a sign of insolvency. The ECB could kill the volatility stone dead and enforce a floor on the price, and possibly bankrupt the speculators, through open market operations. That would help the whole Eurozone.

And trading in sovereign debt is a part of monetary policy. Sovereign debt is a key component of the money supply, right after cash.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

There is something called the European Investment Bank Group, made up of the EIB (aimed at integration and cohesion) and EIF, the European Investment Fund, which focuses on a creating a homogenous venture capital market in Europe. The European Investment Bank is a majority shareholder to endorse the role of the EIF as the exclusive vehicle for venture capital of the European Investment Bank (EIB). Other shareholders are the European Union, represented by the European Commission, and a number of European banks and financial institutions from the public and private sector.

EIF carries out its venture capital and guarantee activities using either its own funds or funds entrusted by mandates. The principal sources of mandated funds are the main shareholders, the EIB (EUR 4bn) and the European Union (EUR 1.1bn), whilst up to EUR 1bn is derived from EIF's partnerships with public and private bodies.

The ECB is the central bank for Europe's single currency, the euro. The ECB's main task is to maintain the euro's purchasing power and thus price stability in the Eurozone, made up of the 16 EU countries that have introduced the euro since 1999.

(my text for a website on the EP)

You can't be me, I'm taken