Benoît Coeuré: Interview in Le Progrès de Lyon and EBRA
newspaper group
Interview with Mr Benoît Coeuré, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank,
conducted by Mr Frank Viart of Le Progrès de Lyon and published by EBRA newspaper group
(L'Alsace, Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, Le Républicain Lorrain, L'Est Républicain, Vosges
Matin, Le Bien Public, Le Journal de Saône-et-Loire, Le Progrès de Lyon, Le Dauphiné Libéré
and Vaucluse Matin) on 11 November 2016.
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Seen from Frankfurt, what is your reaction to the election of Donald Trump?
It is certainly a major event. It is not for the ECB to assess the political consequences. But it
holds a lesson for Europe: in a world where shocks are increasing, Europe must keep control of
its destiny. For Europe to be strong in terms of defence and security, it must have a strong
economy. And for the economy to be strong, reforms are needed in every country and the euro
area must function better.
Could the ECB's monetary policy decision in December be influenced by this election
result?
It is too early to say. In the short term we are closely monitoring the reaction of the financial
markets. Excessive volatility must be avoided. Looking ahead, we will assess the consequences
of Mr Trump's election for the global economy and for the euro area. The recovery in the euro
area is strengthening. This was visible following the UK referendum.
In France, interest rates are historically low. Can this persist in the long term?
The ECB's monetary policy will remain very accommodative until inflation is firmly on a path
towards 2%. What other reasons are there, beyond the ECB's decisions, for interest rates being
so low? It is because growth is still weak. It is because our economies are less able than in the
past to create growth. The ECB must take account of this environment and, to provide effective
support to the recovery, we must set our key interest rates at very low or even negative levels. If
the European economy regains the ability to sustainably create growth, interest rates will return
to levels more favourable to savings.
How do you account for the fact that economic growth has remained low in France in
2016?
The pace of economic growth is accelerating throughout the euro area and the unemployment
rate is falling, including in France, but at a slightly slower pace. The ECB's monetary policy has
made a strong contribution and the reforms implemented in each country have played a role. The
countries that were severely affected by the financial crisis have had to undertake reforms. The
reforms that they have implemented, particularly in the labour market, have been hard but are
now bearing fruit. In Spain, for example, growth is set to be above 3% in 2016 and the
unemployment rate is falling rapidly. France, which weathered the crisis better, faced less
pressure to undertake reforms. Today growth in France is weaker and unemployment is higher.
This illustrates the importance of further reforms.