government bonds of countries covered by the euro rescue package … … and that comply with the requirements of a stabilisation programme. i am somewhat critical of that. what does that mean? the ecb ’ s crisis measures have provided governments with, among other things, time to respond to the crisis with better policies. the omt programme reduces the pressure emanating from the markets and i fear that creates the wrong incentives. there must not be a lull in the drive for reform and budget consolidation must not be put on the back burner. which means that, even as a member of the executive board of the ecb, you continue to side with the bundesbank and its president, jens weidmann? i stand for europe. and that ’ s why the spirit of the treaties is what guides me. and i can understand the reasoning behind a number of mr weidmann ’ s assessments. if, at some point, the governing council of the ecb were to take a vote on whether to activate the omt programme, would you vote against it? i doubt if there are any circumstances that would justify it. but i don ’ t know in what circumstances such a question would come up. what about government bond purchases in general? aside from the controversial programme for crisis countries? the ecb is not forbidden from purchasing government bonds per se. a large - scale purchase of securities – whether issued by the government or the private sector – would only be considered in the event of exceptional risk. and this is really not something that i can see at the moment. bis central bankers ’ speeches the ecb has done much to buy time for the governments of highly indebted euro area countries with favourable interest rates, so that they can introduce reforms. by way of thanks, these countries now want to do away with the maastricht treaty and get further into debt? for a permanent exit from the crisis, which is also a crisis of confidence, governments must consolidate their budgets and implement the necessary structural reforms. only then will the euro area countries increase the competitiveness of their national economies and create a basis for long - lasting prosperity for their people. it would be a huge error to stop this process now, when so much has already been achieved. until recently, the governing council of the ecb was a male preserve. now, with you and the governor of the central bank of cyprus, there are two women. what has changed? nothing. expertise has nothing to do

country inflation has fallen noticeably. in addition, we are observing a slowing down of investment under the influence of expected long - term growth prospects. the negative consequences of this often appear only after a delay, particularly since germany is not an island. the bank for international settlements ( bis ), effectively the central banks ’ central bank, is already warning that the ecb ’ s measures are having little direct effect, but are instead having dangerous side effects, namely bubbles. are you sure that that is not a rather provocative and one - sided summary? not at all! our monetary policy is working. during the crisis, it stabilised the euro area as a whole, prevented a much stronger slump in the economy, and improved financing conditions, and that is having an impact on the real economy. indeed, we are currently seeing moderate bis central bankers ’ speeches economic growth in the euro area. that is not yet enough for us to breathe a sigh of relief. but an expansive monetary policy can also encourage speculation. therefore, i will be the first to demand higher interest rates and a tightening of liquidity – as soon as that is justified. and what about the high property prices in germany? is there a bubble? the deutsche bundesbank, among others, is keeping a close eye on that and is also seeing warning signs, but is not speaking of a bubble. we are not seeing a strong rise in housing purchases financed by loans. a bubble is always accompanied by price increases and strong credit growth. before you came to the ecb, you were at the deutsche bundesbank. the presidents of these two banks have very different opinions. which of the two is closer to the truth, jens weidmann or mario draghi? i think that the differences of opinion between mr draghi and mr weidmann are often exaggerated by the media. when making decisions i prefer to follow my own principles and assessments. nonetheless, the two gentlemen fought a duel that even went as far as germany ’ s constitutional court. it concerned whether the ecb should buy bonds from crisis - hit countries. the deutsche bundesbank and the ecb gave evidence in court as expert witnesses. the action was initiated by others. moreover, there are many different opinions in the governing council, not only those of mr draghi and mr weidmann. let ’ s talk about your view : what is your position on government bond purchases? if you mean the omt programme … … under which the ecb would buy the