benoit cœure : interview in le progres de lyon and ebra newspaper group interview with mr benoit cœure, member of the executive board of the european central bank, conducted by mr frank viart of le progres de lyon and published by ebra newspaper group ( l ’ alsace, les dernieres nouvelles d ’ alsace, le republicain lorrain, l'est republicain, vosges matin, le bien public, le journal de saone - et - loire, le progres de lyon, le dauphine libere and vaucluse matin ) on 11 november 2016. * * * seen from frankfurt, what is your reaction to the election of donald trump? it is certainly a major event. it is not for the ecb to assess the political consequences. but it holds a lesson for europe : in a world where shocks are increasing, europe must keep control of its destiny. for europe to be strong in terms of defence and security, it must have a strong economy. and for the economy to be strong, reforms are needed in every country and the euro area must function better. could the ecb ’ s monetary policy decision in december be influenced by this election result? it is too early to say. in the short term we are closely monitoring the reaction of the financial markets. excessive volatility must be avoided. looking ahead, we will assess the consequences of mr trump ’ s election for the global economy and for the euro area. the recovery in the euro area is strengthening. this was visible following the uk referendum. in france, interest rates are historically low. can this persist in the long term? the ecb ’ s monetary policy will remain very accommodative until inflation is firmly on a path towards 2 %. what other reasons are there, beyond the ecb ’ s decisions, for interest rates being so low? it is because growth is still weak. it is because our economies are less able than in the past to create growth. the ecb must take account of this environment and, to provide effective support to the recovery, we must set our key interest rates at very low or even negative levels. if the european economy regains the ability to sustainably create growth, interest rates will return to levels more favourable to savings. how do you account for the fact that economic growth has remained low in france in 2016? the pace of economic growth is accelerating throughout the euro area and

realise that they have to pay for good services. listening to you, that all sounds great. is there anything that keeps you awake at night? i always sleep very well. that ’ s probably one of my strengths [ laughs ]. but to be serious, what i really do worry about is the threat of deregulation. not only in the united states, but also in europe. domestic banks haven ’ t noticed this yet. that may be, but i see a clear movement in that direction in current proposals to change european legislation. attitudes towards strong supervision are no longer so positive. after the financial crisis, politicians reinforced the supervisory function and gave it tools to pre - empt looming risks. prior to that, supervisors were often unable to react until the damage had been done. we need to watch out for the pendulum swinging back. where do you see signs of that? there are some proposals for the capital requirements directive that i am concerned about. it may become more difficult for supervisors to require more capital for certain risks. this would weaken the supervisory tools. daniele nouy ’ s term as chair of ecb banking supervision finishes at the end of the year. could you imagine taking her place? i have a great passion for banking supervision, and it will be a turning point for me when i stop 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches doing it. but i am convinced that job rotation is good, at all levels. it would be wrong to exclude the chair and vice - chair from this. a fresh perspective is also important in banking supervision. and for you personally? my ecb executive board mandate will then still have three years to run. i will take on new tasks there in early 2019. i won ’ t get bored. for example, what about heading the bundesbank, a position which is likely to change next year? i ’ m not giving that any thought at present. 4 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches