they have any guarantee that such a banking crisis will never happen again? the best safeguard to make sure that the banking crisis doesn ’ t happen again is tough supervision, which will be ensured through the single supervisory mechanism that will start operating in november. this is the best protection. the ecb, as the single supervisor in the single supervisory mechanism, will have to be tough. together with the new banking rules, this will be the best way of preventing future crises. i very much believe that taxpayers are now much better protected than they were before the crisis, in particular thanks to the new bail - in rules that make sure that investors in banks will be the first to cover any losses. if any capital shortfall is identified by the ecb stress test and asset quality review, it will have to be covered first by the private sector. the ecb is a part of the troika, together with the imf and the european commission. what is actually the ecb ’ s role in the troika? the ecb has had a very clear role since may 2010, when we were invited to join the troika and advise the european commission on matters where we have specific expertise. those are generally financial sector issues, the situation of banks and also the general macroeconomic balance. this has been our role, but otherwise all the decisions related to financial support to countries have been taken by the eurogroup and by the countries themselves. the eurogroup is the politically and democratically accountable authority. key decisions can only be taken by authorities, or politicians who are accountable to their parliaments. decisions on reforms in individual countries can only be taken by local governments under the scrutiny of national parliaments. the work of the troika has to be accountable to democratic institutions. the ecb can explain what it does in the troika, but we only act as an adviser. the ecb is this year moving to a beautiful new building in frankfurt. how many people will work in the new building and what will change with the move? the ecb ’ s new building is a long - term project. all of our staff, some 1600 people, except those in charge of banking supervision, will move to the new building. the new banking supervisory body within the ecb will be located in another building in the centre of frankfurt because its staff have to be together. it is also good that the monetary policy part of the ecb and the supervisory part are separated, as they are two

##italised slovenian banks. what should be done now by these banks to ensure further improvement of their ratings so that they can improve their access to funding and extend loans on favourable conditions? beyond the ratings, what matters for slovenia is the renewed trust of financial markets and investors, and the ultimate goal would be for these banks to be able to diversify their funding sources in the market, which would make them more resilient, and in turn support the slovenian economy. their objective should be to access to stable funding in financial markets. banks should now properly manage their loan books and make adequate provisions, if necessary. but ultimately what matters most will be profitable projects in the economy. and this does not depend so much on the banks but also on the government, which needs to ensure a more efficient public sector, and on reforming the economy so that it is more efficient and able to thrive in the european environment. the key to success, therefore, lies in the real economy, not in the financial sector. i agree. slovenia ’ s economy generates nearly 70 % of gdp from exports. what is the ecb ’ s assessment of our main trading partners, germany, france, austria and italy? could we expect more demand from these countries this year? certainly demand in the largest european economies is steadily improving. this is obviously not enough, but growth is positive again and it is accelerating. all the recent signs from the economy across europe suggest that this scenario is again taking place. it is a scenario of a slow but steadily improving growth, also in the larger european economies. so demand from these economies is picking up and improving, and should benefit smaller, very open economies such as slovenia. so there is ground for optimism. the euro area is going in the right direction. two years ago, maybe even one year ago we didn ’ t have this direction, this steady and improving growth. certainly it is not enough and everything should be done to prop it up – but it is very important to know what the direction is. bis central bankers ’ speeches so is the euro safe now after some very turbulent years when there was even speculation it might break up? is the euro on the safe side now, out of the worst trouble? the euro is no longer being challenged as a project. this is an important achievement. european policy - makers have confirmed their commitment to the single currency project and to the integrity of the euro area and this has restored trust in the euro in international capital markets. this is why many international