##bahn ” or “ highway ” system, whereas the united states created such a system almost 10 years ago. the aim of the european post - trading market must therefore be to create one single market across europe which is as secure, efficient and cheap as domestic markets are today. the eurosystem takes the view that today ’ s challenges are best tackled by involving market participants in solving the current economic and financial gaps. the eurosystem is acting as a market catalyst and playing a unique facilitation role, bringing together market participants to create a truly integrated european post - trading market. the eurosystem achieved a great success by providing – in the form of target2 – borderless core infrastructures for real - the difference between the price of an eu bank purchasing a settlement service by a european settlement service provider and the price an us bank pays for the equivalent settlement service from a us service provider. time settlement in central bank money. further support for the single market will come from the streamlining of collateral management systems through the ccbm2 ( collateral central bank management ) project. in addition, the target2 - security ( t2s ) project aims at building on the target2 system and brings securities transactions settlement with pure cash settlements together across europe. these eurosystem initiatives joins other european initiatives, such as the code of conduct and the markets in financial instruments directive ( mifid ), in helping to fulfil the objectives set out by the lisbon agenda for the provision of better services to issuers and investors. we firmly believe that these concerted initiatives will speed up the long awaited market integration and foster competition thereby creating opportunities for cost savings and allowing market participants to select and choose posttrade partners irrespective of their location within the single market. this also requires a clear roadmap for securing the “ safety and soundness ” 2 of post - trading systems from a european perspective and for the relevant authorities to define common practices compatible with a single market, including the dismantling of current legal and fiscal barriers, in particular, national differences in the legal treatment of securities and actions on conflict - of - laws. this is in conformity with the recommendations of the giovannini group findings, which examined the eu post - trading sector and identified 15 barriers to be removed in order to ensure and efficient cross border clearing and settlements in the context of completing the single market ; one of which relates to the current restrictions on the location of securities ( barrier 9 ), which limits the

while this marks the highest level recorded in almost two years, it remains far below the ecb ’ s objective. and while we expect headline inflation to continue rising over the coming months, much of this increase will be driven by statistical factors related to the mechanical unwinding of the extreme oil price declines a year ago. we do not yet see a consistent strengthening of underlying price dynamics. our objective is – and will remain – a rate of inflation below, but close to, 2 % over the medium term. going forward, our assessment will depend on whether we see a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation towards that objective. and that means that inflation convergence towards 2 % is durable, even with a reduction in monetary accommodation. inflation dynamics, in other words, need to be self - sustained. 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches and this brings me to the third factor which calls for prudence over the outlook : the fact that the euro area recovery still relies to a considerable degree on accommodative monetary policy. the recovery in credit is being facilitated by a more resilient banking sector, but the impetus comes from our monetary policy. our measures and their effective transmission underpin our outlook for growth and inflation. according to staff estimates, our measures will raise the inflation rate by more than half a percentage point, on average, over 2016 and 2017. and they will contribute to increasing real euro area gdp growth by more than one and a half percentage points cumulatively between 2015 and 2018. in other words, monetary policy remains a key ingredient in the reflation scenario we foresee for the euro area in the coming years. conclusion so even if there are many encouraging trends in the euro area economy, the recovery remains highly reliant on a constellation of financing conditions that, in turn, depend on continued monetary support. the ecb will continue to act, as warranted, by using all the instruments available within our mandate to secure a sustained convergence of inflation towards a level below, but close to 2 %. we also have to recognise that we operate under a still significant degree of uncertainty. whether the economic recovery becomes more solid, and how quickly inflation dynamics become more self - sustained, depends not just on the current monetary policy stance, but also on other policies, as i have discussed on several other occasions. restoring a sense of direction – and therefore confidence – would be the simplest and yet most powerful way to deliver economic stimulus. 1 for further detail, see ecb economic bulletin