if it does not? we cut interest rates last month because we came to the conclusion that inflation would stay below target for too long. looking ahead, if we come to the conclusion that this remains the case, we would have to act again. this is not our scenario at this stage, however. we are confident that inflation will gradually come back to 2 %, mainly because the euro area economy will come out of recession. but of course we have to monitor the situation very carefully. i do not want to rule out further steps. interest rates are already close to zero. what could you do? there are a number of things we could do. we could cut interest rates again, by, say, moving the deposit rate into negative territory, and we could provide additional liquidity to the banking sector. which of these options – if any – we will use depends on the economic developments. we could also combine these measures. as for the crisis in europe, would you say that the worst is over? i would say that the worst of the financial crisis in a narrow sense is over. the main task of european authorities this year and last year was to stabilise financial markets. this has been largely successful : markets are much calmer and have more confidence in european recovery now. the main task next year will be to get the economy going. some people in germany say that france, your home country, is the biggest risk for the monetary union. i would certainly not call france a risk in terms of financial stability. the french financial and banking system is resilient. there is currently no danger whatsoever that the country may lose access to financial markets. the problem is that growth could remain weak if reforms are not taken forward. companies have to increase their competitiveness and the government has to get the budget under control by cutting public spending. bis central bankers ’ speeches

the euro once they fulfil the convergence criteria. it is no one ’ s intention in the euro area and certainly not in the ecb to bar the euro adoption in eu member states outside the euro area. what is fundamental – and we stick to that position - is the fulfilment of the convergence criteria as specified in the eu treaty. we examine the sustainability of the convergence process on the basis of a coherent analytical framework specified in our convergence reports. this framework has been used consistently across time and for all examined countries and we will continue to use this framework for the analysis in the future. the notion of sustainability implies for us that the convergence criteria must be fulfilled on a lasting basis and not only at the time of the convergence examination. a lack of sustainability would result in serious economic problems for the newcomer with maintaining economic and financial stability. in addition economic problems in an individual euro area country might also have negative consequences for the entire euro area. thus, a thorough and rigorous approach to fulfilling the convergence criteria on a sustainable basis is in the interest of all current and prospective euro area members. looking to the euro area since its inception of 1 january 1999, one is impressed by its success. not only the success of the single currency itself which has gained the same level of monetary stability and confidence that was the privilege only of the best previous national currencies. not only the fact that inflation over the last eight years has been in the euro area significantly lower than in the eight years before the euro. price stability is a necessary condition for growth and job creation. so it is not surprising that growth has been higher in the euro area since january 1999 than in the eight years before and that in the same period of eight years job creation has been significantly higher : 12 million jobs created since 1 january 1999 compared to less than 3 million during the eight years before. but this does not mean that the euro area should not strive to do even much better, taking into account in particular the present level of unemployment and the low level of yearly labour productivity increases. more flexibility of all markets is of the essence. we must continue to strive for the full liberalisation of the markets of goods and services, for further significant progress in financial integration and for flexibility in the labour markets including free movement of workers. this free movement of workers within the monetary union is not only important for its proper functioning but it also symbolises the depth of the economic integration achieved between euro area countries. thus, let me repeat here my