jean - claude trichet : the euro - five years on speech by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, at the annual dinner of the guild of international bankers, london, 2 february 2004. * * * ladies and gentlemen, for five years now, we have had a single currency and a monetary policy conducted by the eurosystem, consisting of the european central bank and the national central banks of the euro area. the introduction of the single european currency has been a historical landmark. the process of preparing for the adoption of the single currency had led to a degree of convergence in the 1990s that many had not thought possible. sceptics were unconvinced as to whether it was possible to establish the euro as a stable currency and to successfully formulate a monetary policy for a diverse currency area. in particular, some observers considered the continuing existence of autonomous national fiscal policies as incompatible with a supranational monetary policy. the “ one - size - fits - all ” approach implied by the single monetary policy was, on account of the diverse nature of the currency area, criticised to give rise to permanently asynchronous economic developments. critical observers therefore took the view that a stability - oriented monetary policy was doomed to failure. where do we stand five years later? the euro has been firmly and credibly established as a stable currency. the euro area has witnessed a period of low rates of inflation and low levels of long term interest rates. most countries have had their lowest market interest rates for decades. the introduction of the euro, first, in book - entry form, and, second, in the form of banknotes and coins went very smoothly. the euro has become part of people ’ s daily lives. the successful introduction of the euro the birth of the euro and the cash changeover in january 1999 the transition to the euro was virtually free of technical problems, although many people had predicted that such a big project would inevitably be delayed or affected by bugs. we established, almost overnight, a unified money market, which functioned smoothly from the very start. three years later, the exchange of the old national banknotes and coins of the 12 countries of the euro area for the new euro notes and coins was a huge organisational, logistical and technical undertaking. the euro cash changeover progressed well and rapidly, without any major hitches, to the benefit of more than 300 million european citizens. the mandate of the ecb equally important, the ec

yves mersch : the european central bank's monetary policy stance speech by mr yves mersch, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at an mni connect event, singapore, 25 july 2017. * * * the global recovery is firming and broadening. and the ongoing economic expansion in the euro area provides confidence. but while inflation will gradually head to levels in line with our definition of price stability in the midterm, it has yet to translate into stronger inflation dynamics. headline inflation is dampened by the weakness in energy prices. moreover, measures of underlying inflation remain overall at subdued levels. therefore, as i pointed out yesterday in my oral presentation at the bank negara malaysia monetary policy conference, a very substantial degree of monetary accommodation is still needed for underlying inflation pressures to gradually build up and support headline inflation developments in the medium term. let me provide you with some details of the ongoing recovery. euro area real gdp increased by 0. 6 %, quarter on quarter, in the first quarter of 2017, after 0. 5 % in the last quarter of 2016. incoming data, notably survey results, continue to point to solid, broad - based growth in the period ahead. the pass - through of our monetary policy measures is supporting domestic demand and has facilitated the deleveraging process. the recovery in investment continues to benefit from very favourable financing conditions and improvements in corporate profitability. private consumption is supported by employment gains, which are also benefiting from past labour market reforms, and by increasing household wealth. moreover, the global recovery should increasingly lend support to trade and euro area exports. however, economic growth prospects continue to be dampened by a slow pace of implementation of structural reforms, particularly in product markets, and by remaining balance sheet adjustment needs in a number of sectors, notwithstanding ongoing improvements. the risks surrounding the euro area growth outlook might be upward in the short term, but are overall broadly balanced. on the one hand, the current positive cyclical momentum increases the chances of a stronger than expected economic upswing. on the other hand, downside risks primarily relating to global factors continue to exist. the thread of deflation is gone and reflationary forces are at play. prices pressures in the early stages of the pricing chain remain strong but have still not transmitted to the later stages. euro area annual hicp inflation was 1. 3 % in june, down slightly from 1. 4 % in may, mainly due to lower energy price inflation. looking ahead