benoit cœure : stronger together – the greek turnaround and european integration opinion piece by mr benoit cœure, member of the executive board of the european central bank, published in “ ta nea ”, 30 august 2014. * * * the strength of our european polis has been deeply challenged by the crisis. fragilities resulting from many years of unsustainable national policies and an incomplete governance structure have become evident, fuelling uncertainty, sometimes financial panic, and ultimately high adjustment burden and social hardship. the euro has delivered huge economic benefits since its introduction, but there has been a false sense that it could come as a free lunch for participating countries, creating rights but no obligations. we have seen how excessive imbalances and inefficient structures in individual countries can destabilise the whole monetary union as a result of the close interdependence of our economies. the key challenge in recent years has been to address these fragilities and contagion effects both at the national and european levels. a lot has been achieved since mid - 2010, particularly in programme countries where painstaking efforts are now being rewarded and economies are gradually recovering. let me mention a few telling figures. in greece the current account balance improved from – 14. 9 % of gdp in 2008 to + 0. 7 % in 2013 ; the primary public balance ( that is the public balance excluding interest ) is expected to move from a deficit of 10. 5 % of gdp in 2009 to a primary surplus in 2014. on the ease of starting a business, recent reforms helped greece jump from 147th place in the 2013 edition of the world bank ’ s doing business ranking to 36th in 2014, i. e. 6th among eu countries and well ahead of finland, germany and austria. greece stands as an example that there is no fatality, that past economic policy mistakes can be repaired and that national reforms combined with european solidarity are able to turn the economy around. however, we clearly cannot yet claim that we are done : investment remains weak, unemployment is unacceptably high and too many greeks are at risk of poverty. while the financial crisis is behind us, the euro area still faces a major shortfall in both growth and employment. europeans have a shared responsibility in responding to these challenges. by combining national and european efforts, greece and other programme countries are being brought back on a path of sustainable and shared prosperity. at national level, we still need substantial reforms of our

sabine lautenschlager : interview with deutschlandfunk interview by ms sabine lautenschlager, member of the executive board of the european central bank and vice - chair of the supervisory board of the european central bank, with deutschlandfunk, conducted by mr klemens kindermann and broadcast on 30 december 2018. * * * ms lautenschlager, the euro is now 20 years old. on 1 january 1999 it became legal tender for 11 out of 15 eu member states, initially in electronic form and then as cash as of 2002. germany has participated from the outset, alongside countries such as france and italy. has the euro been a success? yes, the euro has definitely been a success, and indeed a success on an economic level. many people merely associate the euro with being able to travel more easily to other countries without having to exchange german marks for french francs or spanish pesetas, but it has most especially had economic benefits for our business enterprises and our firms. we are now truly an export - driven country. trade within the euro area has increased and, thanks to the single currency, firms find it much easier to estimate the value of the payments owed to them. they do not run any exchange rate risk. but the euro has also been a success in political terms. we should not forget that the eu, and therefore the euro, has also been immensely important in preserving the peace that we have enjoyed in the euro area, in the eu, for the past 70 years. and since we are stronger together, and as part of the eu and the euro area are able to play a greater role in the global arena, also on the political front, we can do more to ensure peace for the political environment. so, in my view, the euro is a huge success. according to a survey, even now around a third of german people still mentally convert german euro prices to german mark, at least for larger purchases. can you understand that some germans are still pining for the d - mark? i ’ m not so sure that this mental conversion really is a sign that people are missing the d - mark. especially for the older ones among us, it is simply a better way of estimating the value. some people also do it out of habit. so i don ’ t think that germans really want to have the d - mark back. i ’ ve heard that more than 80 % of the german population have a very positive view of the