have to be inflexible and oppose any pressure group. under your leadership, the ecb has risen to become europe ’ s secret government. is it not deeply undemocratic when representatives of an unelected institution like the ecb can dictate austerity plans to an elected government like italy ’ s? we do not dictate anything to anyone. we do not replace any government. we do not take any political decisions. we are only giving messages to governments individually, and to the eurogroup as a whole. this has always been our task since the setting - up of the ecb. do you not think it was appropriate for us to tell the big countries in 2004 that they should not weaken the stability and growth pact? bis central bankers ’ speeches almost all experts agree that europe must come closer together. how do you imagine the europe of the future? i would make a distinction between the immediate future, and – after a change in the treaty – what i would call “ tomorrow ” and the “ day after tomorrow ”. immediately we must apply completely and rigorously the new governance which has just been approved by the parliament and the council. “ tomorrow ” we must have the possibility to impose decisions on a country that is not applying the recommendations and, in so doing, is putting the system as a whole in danger. and “ the day after tomorrow ” we should have a significantly stronger political union with an executive branch and, in this executive branch, a european finance minister. he would be responsible for surveillance of fiscal and economic policies, for the monitoring of the financial sector and for the representation of the european economy in international institutions. at the end of the month, your term of office comes to an end and you will step down after years as president of the ecb. what headline would you like to read over your period in office? despite successive oil shocks and the global crisis, the ecb governing council has delivered greater price stability than in the previous 50 years to 332 million fellow citizens. do you already know what you are going to do with your spare time in future? i have not made any specific plans, because i am concentrating fully on my last weeks in office. my greatest privilege will surely be that i will have more time for reading, for meditating on the present history of europe and to spend with my four granddaughters : eleonore, diane, anna and marie. bis central bankers ’ speeches

, over and above the economy's potential rate, has brought into sharp focus domestic supply and infrastructure constraints. these, in turn, present a situation where globally - determined inflation in ireland is declining substantially, while more domestically - driven inflation, as reflected in services price inflation, remains significant at around 4 per cent. given current conditions, the continued expansionary fiscal stance adds unnecessary stimulus to an economy at full employment. against the current macroeconomic backdrop, increasing net spending in excess of 5 per cent over an extended period implies that the fiscal stance will aggravate price inflation and wage pressures, undermining competitiveness and creating risks that could damage sustainable economic growth. as my pre - budget letter of 4 july to the minister for finance – and the paper on the housing market we published last month – observed, higher levels of public investment are likely to be required over the coming years given known deficits in housing and to meet longer term structural challenges linked to the climate transition. so while the projected increases in public investment are necessary, careful management of the overall fiscal stance is needed to avoid overheating. with the economy already at full employment, there is a risk that increasing public investment on the scale envisaged fuels overheating pressures and results in poor value for money. to avoid this outcome, it would have been preferable if the upward revisions to public investment had been accommodated while keeping overall net spending below 5 per cent. undoubtedly, this would have presented difficult choices and trade - offs to be made in other areas of expenditure and on taxation. furthermore, to ensure additional government expenditure yields real improvements in services and that infrastructure investment is delivered efficiently, essential change outside of fiscal measures is needed in broader public policy areas. this includes in particular addressing delays and bottlenecks in the planning system, in the building regulation process and in construction. progress in these areas would also help to further incentivise and crowd - in private investment. consumer protection let me turn to consumer protection. the central bank's mission is to serve the public interest by maintaining monetary and financial stability while ensuring that the financial system operates in the best interests of consumers and the wider economy. all of our work is aimed at serving the public interest and protecting consumers of financial services, whether it is through the consumer protection code, the mortgage measures, monetary policy, our oversight of payments systems, or supervising to ensure firms are resilient and are acting in the best interests of their consumers. the environment in which we operate