i am convinced that national independent fiscal institutions and the european fiscal board can make decisive contributions to the success of stage one when it comes to ensuring responsible fiscal policies. of course, there are important differences between monetary and fiscal policies in terms of the potential for delegation to technocrats. monetary policy is a technical task aimed at minimising market distortions and undesirable economic fluctuations. in order to overcome commitment problems, central banks were made independent and provided with a price stability mandate. by contrast, fiscal policy has strong allocation and redistribution dimensions, which need to reflect national political preferences. accordingly, fiscal policy has remained the innate prerogative of democratically elected governments. this is supported by the findings of the political - economy literature, which points to the need for limits on the delegation of these policies to independent experts. 6 proposals have been made to set up independent fiscal agencies with a clearly defined and limited role, such as deciding on the overall fiscal balance, and then leaving it to the political system to decide on taxes and expenditures7, but they have not gained much traction. see monnet, jean ( 1952 ), “ the united states of europe ”, in the united states of europe has begun : the european coal and steel community ‒ speeches and addresses 1952 – 1954, pp. 58 – 60. see juncker, jean - claude, tusk, donald, dijsselbloem, jeroen, draghi, mario and schulz, martin ( 2015 ), the five presidents ’ report : completing europe ’ s economic and monetary union, june. on convergence in the euro area, see cœure, benoit ( 2016 ), rebalancing in the euro area : are we nearly there yet?, speech at the danish economic society, kolding, 15 january. alesina, alberto and tabellini, guido ( 2007 ), “ bureaucrats or politicians? part i : a single policy task ”, american economic review, vol. 97 ( 1 ), pp. 169 – 179 ; and maskin, eric and tirole, jean ( 2004 ), “ the politician and the judge : accountability in government ”, american economic review, vol. 94 ( 4 ), pp. 1034 – 1054. both papers point to the conclusion that, albeit technical, fiscal policies are intrinsically redistributive and should therefore be made by elected representatives. wyplosz, charles ( 2005 ), “ fiscal policy :

european central bank : press conference – introductory statement introductory statement by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, and mr vitor constancio, vice - president of the european central bank, frankfurt am main, 10 june 2010. * * * ladies and gentlemen, mr constancio, the new vice - president of the ecb, and i are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference. we will now report on the outcome of today ’ s meeting, which was also attended by commissioner rehn. based on its regular economic and monetary analyses, the governing council decided to leave the key ecb interest rates unchanged. the current rates remain appropriate. taking into account all the new information which has become available since our meeting on 6 may 2010, we continue to expect price developments to remain moderate over the policyrelevant medium - term horizon. global inflationary pressures may persist, while domestic price pressures are expected to remain low. the latest information has also confirmed that the economic recovery in the euro area continued in the first half of 2010, but quarterly growth rates are likely to be rather uneven. looking ahead, we expect the euro area economy to grow at a moderate pace, in an environment of continued tensions in some financial market segments and of unusually high uncertainty. our monetary analysis confirms that inflationary pressures over the medium term remain contained, as suggested by weak money and credit growth. overall, we expect price stability to be maintained over the medium term, thereby supporting the purchasing power of euro area households. inflation expectations remain firmly anchored in line with our aim of keeping inflation rates below, but close to, 2 % over the medium term. the firm anchoring of inflation expectations remains of the essence. monetary policy will do all that is needed to maintain price stability in the euro area over the medium term. this is the necessary and central contribution that monetary policy makes to fostering sustainable economic growth, job creation and financial stability. all the nonstandard measures taken during the period of strong financial market tensions, referred to as “ enhanced credit support ” and the securities markets programme, are fully consistent with our mandate and, by construction, temporary in nature. we remain firmly committed to price stability over the medium to longer term, and the monetary policy stance and the overall provision of liquidity will be adjusted as appropriate. accordingly, the governing council will continue to monitor all developments over the period ahead very closely. let me now explain our assessment in greater detail, starting with the economic