or later, we should publish the minutes. what do the other governing council members think about that? when could the minutes be published for the first time? we are discussing this topic intensively. you mentioned that, in its most recent decision, the governing council also responded to the deteriorated credit conditions. what is the reason for the steep rise in capital market rates? one factor is the changing monetary policy in the united states. at the same time, the developments in the money market reveal fears about a withdrawal of the excessive liquidity in the market. after all, banks in the euro area are gradually repaying their funds1 but that is surely a good sign. yes, that indicates a return to normal conditions. on the one hand, banks can find funding more easily because savers and enterprises are again depositing more of their money at banks. on the other hand, the banks are also repaying the loans from the ecb with funds obtained through the deleveraging of their balance sheets – that is the bad news. that in turn restricts their scope for extending credit. ecb president mario draghi described the promise of low interest rates for an extended period of time as “ unprecedented ”. are you not afraid of making it too easy for the euro area governments to postpone reforms? we are aware of the risk that governments might take advantage of our decision in this way. we must find the right balance between monetary policy necessities and the avoidance of adverse incentives. history will tell whether we did so successfully. where is the line that the ecb may not cross? in the end, we focus on our mandate. we must maintain price stability. inflationary risks are currently low. obtained through the three - year ltros. bis central bankers ’ speeches you assume that inflation will remain within the set margins? we have every reason to assume so. and we will do everything to ensure that it stays that way. but with mario draghi ’ s promise to do “ whatever it takes to preserve the euro ”, isn ’ t the ecb giving the completely wrong signals? surely the governments can now just sit back. so far we have successfully tackled acute crisis situations. however, the question is whether we thereby relieved the pressure to implement reforms to such an extent that necessary adjustments in national budgets have not been sufficient. the reform efforts in many places are impressive, even if labour market and product market reforms in some countries leave something to be desired. all in all, reforms are proceeding

, some time will be required to obtain estimates which are sufficiently reliable for publication. at the same time, i would acknowledge that, if presented clearly within the context of our strategy, forecasts may also enhance our transparency. thus we should indeed consider publishing forecasts at some point in the future. in our external communications we aim to speak with one voice. the collegiate character of the governing council underpins this principle and facilitates the process of ensuring that monetary policy decisions are transparent. this is not always easy and here we are clearly in a learning phase. this is the case on a more general level too. communication is more an art than a science. we will certainly try to learn from experience. verbal discipline and transparency are not contradictions : they should be two sides of the same coin. we aim to be predictable. this will be easier if we can predict how the media will interpret and publish our communications. this is not yet always the case. communication should not be a one - way street. the ecb must also take note of and be sensitive to its environment in order to be effective in its own policies. let me therefore now turn to the issue of our wider environment. 3. 2. 2 the environment monetary policy cannot be conducted in isolation. the ecb cannot operate on an island. it needs a strong european foundation. this is an issue which touches upon much more than just the framework for monetary policy or even for emu. in the longer term having a single currency means that ultimately we are sitting in the same boat. it is inevitable that sometimes the single monetary policy will not be perfectly tailored to a certain region or even to a certain country. this is the case in all monetary unions. optimal currency areas do exist in textbooks, but not in practice. thus, for a monetary union to be viable, the absence of perfectly tailored policies will have to be accepted. this may sometimes require a feeling of belonging together – social cohesion if you like. i believe this may be even more fundamental than the discussion on the establishment of political union, which is often a poorly defined concept. increasing political integration and creating or changing joint political institutions may help to foster social cohesion but, like the ecb, these institutions cannot operate in a vacuum. they also require a certain amount of social cohesion. moving solely on the political front may not be enough and it may not be the first or even most important thing to be accomplished. fostering this process of enhancing social cohesion is