bill gross of pimco and george soros, among other renowned economists, have been issuing catastrophic messages about the future of the euro since the start of the crisis. don ’ t you think they should be more cautious, given that their views often have an impact on the market? one should not confuse the issue of financial stability in the euro area and the necessity to adjust fiscal policies, which are an important and pressing problem, with the euro as a currency. since its inception, the euro has kept its value remarkably. price stability has been ensured in a better fashion than with the previous national currencies. it is the currency for the euro area as a whole. and the euro area as a whole has a balanced current account and a public finance deficit much lower than many big advanced economies. such a currency, with such strong underlying fundamentals, is solid and credible. 8. do you think that spain is implementing sufficient reforms? what else can it do to restore investor confidence? spain should resolutely continue to place particular emphasis on further structural reforms in order to have the highest possible level of growth potential, to improve its productivity and to restore investor confidence. 9. most european governments have completed the process of restructuring their financial sectors, but the spanish government will still have to inject a large sum into several financial institutions at the end of september. what is your view of the situation of spain ’ s financial sector? the situation has improved considerably, but one should remain permanently alert. every month the governing council of the ecb calls upon all the banks in europe to do all that is necessary to reinforce their balance sheets, to retain earnings, to be cautious and moderate as regards remuneration and to have recourse to a public backstop, where necessary. 10. what are the challenges facing the new president, mario draghi? every central banker faces the challenge of being the guardian of the currency, and therefore an anchor of stability and confidence in a very demanding period. mario draghi needs no particular advice from me. he is a long - standing member of the ecb ’ s governing council and has been closely involved in all the decisions we have taken over the years. 11. could you give us your view of your eight years in office? do you have any regrets or is there anything that you wish you had done differently? i have not gone yet and i have a very demanding task ahead of me in the remaining month and a half. in any case,

i can assure you that it has been very inspiring to be president of a monetary institution that is responsible for issuing the common currency for 332 million people bis central bankers ’ speeches in 17 countries, including spain. this is a great responsibility. as you know, in the governing council of 23 members, we are a team, together with miguel angel fernandez ordonez and jose manuel gonzalez paramo. we are all very close and this is something that is very inspiring. the team ’ s spirit means so much to me. 12. what is it that has gone wrong in this crisis? what recommendations would you give? emerging economies have shown remarkable overall behaviour in the face of this crisis, unlike the advanced economies. i think the main lesson to be learnt is that we have to make a difference as regards the resilience of the advanced economies. and this requires the implementation of a very robust fiscal policy, a very strong monitoring of competitive indicators in all economies and in particular in the euro area, and bold structural reforms. 13. the markets fear liquidity problems in the european banking sector. do you think this is an understandable concern? the ecb has just announced a joint action with the federal reserve system to lend dollars to the european banks. what has brought us to this situation? could the ecb embark upon other measures, for example more twelve - month tenders? in addition, the liquidity crisis is reducing the banks ’ capital. in this context, will they be able to strengthen their positions themselves or will they require external support, perhaps through the european financial stability facility or some other means? as i already said, the european banking sector has to reinforce its balance sheet and improve its resilience. as regards its access to liquidity, i think it is important for observers and market participants to know that the ecb is supplying liquidity in euro on an unlimited basis at fixed rates for durations of one week, one month and three months. and the eligible collateral in the hands of the banking sector is a multiple of the amount of liquidity we are presently supplying ( around €530 billion ). as regards the liquidity in dollars, we just announced last thursday the agreement between five central banks, which has been well understood by the observers and illustrates the very close cooperation which exists, in particular between the federal reserve system and the ecb. bis central bankers ’ speeches