to grant emergency loans was better lying with the european central bank than, as it does at present, with the national central bank. was there a discussion of that today or was that planned? are there any other areas on which you think the powers should lie with the european central bank rather than national central banks or other national authorities? draghi : let me answer first to the second question. now, this experience we had certainly is giving some lessons we ought to really reflect on. first of all, what has been the role of the ecb in this so far? the ecb has cooperated, has informed and has requested and this is what the ecb does everywhere in these situations with the anti - money laundering, with the national competent authorities. as you said, as you heard many times, the ecb is not competent in money laundering and it doesn ’ t have investigative powers. having said that, the current situation as far as anti - money laundering is concerned is not satisfactory. what you would like to see are two things : more cooperation between national competent authorities on money laundering ; more exchange of information ; more coordination. there is a spectrum here : it can go from having a regular and frequent formalised exchange forum or even go up to a centralised authority. the second aspect is the cooperation between national competent authorities and supervisors, both national supervisors and the ssm. and that ’ s key. that ’ s key because the money laundering activities as far as banks are concerned have produced, unavoidably, reputational and legal consequences. therefore they create reputational and legal liabilities and therefore the supervisor is going to be called in to react to these risks or prevent them from happening. that ’ s what ’ s so important ; the cooperation between the competent authorities and the supervisor. now, a partly different thing is about the emergency liquidity assistance. i have expressed in the european parliament a view that i share with many governing council members and many board members, but it ’ s not something that can be implemented immediately. my view – which by the way we had this experience, we had other experiences – where the conclusion can ’ t be other than – ela should be centralised. basically, it should be given through a process where the governing council participates and discusses and, in the end, decides. this is not possible legally now so it ’ s an evolution of the system that at present time i judge unsatisfactory and needs to be changed. 5 /

european central bank : press conference – introductory statement introductory statement by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank and mr lucas papademos, vice - president of the european central bank, frankfurt am main, 5 july 2007. * * * ladies and gentlemen, the vice - president and i are very pleased to welcome you to today ’ s press conference. let me report on the outcome of our meeting, which was also attended by commissioner almunia. on the basis of our regular economic and monetary analyses, we decided at today ’ s meeting to leave the key ecb interest rates unchanged. the information that has become available since our previous meeting has further underpinned the reasoning behind our decision to increase interest rates in june. it has also confirmed that the medium - term outlook for price stability remains subject to upside risks. given the positive economic environment in the euro area, our monetary policy is still on the accommodative side, with overall financing conditions favourable, money and credit growth vigorous, and liquidity in the euro area ample. looking ahead, acting in a firm and timely manner to ensure price stability in the medium term remains warranted. the governing council will continue to monitor closely all developments to ensure that risks to price stability over the medium term do not materialise and medium to longer - term inflation expectations in the euro area remain solidly anchored at levels consistent with price stability. such anchoring is a prerequisite for monetary policy to make an ongoing contribution towards supporting sustainable economic growth and job creation in the euro area. allow me to explain our assessment in greater detail, starting with the economic analysis. the latest data and survey releases have remained broadly positive, supporting the view that economic activity in the euro area in the second quarter of 2007 continued to expand at solid rates in line with our baseline scenario. looking ahead, the medium - term outlook for economic activity remains favourable. the conditions are in place for the euro area economy to continue to grow at a sustained rate. as regards the external environment, global economic growth has become more balanced across regions and, while moderating somewhat, remains robust. external conditions thus continue to provide support for euro area exports. domestic demand in the euro area is also expected to maintain its relatively strong momentum. investment should remain dynamic, benefiting from overall financing conditions which remain favourable, accumulated and ongoing strong corporate earnings, balance sheet restructuring as well as business efficiency gains achieved over an extended period. meanwhile, consumption should be supported by developments