Fabio Panetta: Interview with TG1
Interview by Mr Fabio Panetta, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank,
with TG1, conducted by Mr Gennaro Pellino on 19 March 2020.
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Only a week ago, one sentence suggested we were looking at an abrupt change of
direction. What has changed in a week?
I don't think it's particularly useful to dwell on one sentence - especially one which President
Lagarde herself quickly corrected. I believe that our actions and our policies are clearly
demonstrated by our decision yesterday, namely our strong determination to provide support to
the Italian and the European economy. We made available €1,100 billion, a vast sum, to support
the financial markets. The famous spread has declined significantly today. This measure comes
on top of the package we agreed last week, when we made available €3,000 billion to the banks,
at very low cost, at very low lending rates, but only on the condition that banks use that funding to
finance the real economy, households, firms and government efforts to deal with the public
health emergency and support the European and the Italian economy.
What does the ECB want to achieve now with this new liquidity issuance?
The coronavirus pandemic will reduce economic growth in Italy and Europe by some percentage
points. Our actions aim to prevent the hardships and struggles that European citizens and
households are currently enduring from being compounded by the economic difficulty that could
result from a recession. We have taken decisive action to prevent such developments and
President Lagarde has stated that there are no limits to the action we will take to ensure that the
European economy is able to continue on a path of growth.
What can European citizens expect now from Europe and the European Union?
Italian and European citizens can expect what they are entitled to, namely strong, decisive,
unified and coordinated action by national governments and European institutions, including the
European Central Bank, to alleviate the hardships and economic difficulties that they will
inevitably face as a result of the pandemic. We will be in the front line of this action. President
Lagarde has stated that the European Central Bank will continue to act decisively until the
emergency related to the coronavirus has been overcome.