as president i am the warrantor that the governing council is up to its treaty mandate : price stability. what can the ecb do to have a better control of the money supply? the monetary pillar in our strategy is important. as you know we cross check results of the economic analysis and of the monetary analysis. we have ample liquidity in the euro area. as an example, the rate of growth of the outstanding loans to the non - financial corporations was 12. 9 percent over the last 12 months. this shows that credit is presently abundant in europe. what do you think of the so called housing bubble? do you think there is one in europe and if so what are the dangers for the european economy? we have to look very carefully at the euro area as a whole. there is evidently no such bubble in germany, whereas in a number of other countries there is an accumulation of price increases of the last years, suggesting that close and careful monitoring is warranted. i don ’ t have a diagnosis of a bubble in the euro area as a whole, but what we see in some parts of the euro area calls for very close attention. so we have to be alert. are you concerned that by raising the interest rates you might stop the main source of growth, as many see it, which is housing? by raising interest rates, as we did last week, we are contributing decisively to the sustainability of growth. if we don ’ t ensure price stability then growth will not be sustainable. that has to be clearly understood. we are not hampering growth! not at all. on the contrary, we are permitting growth to be sustainable in the medium and long run. the mandate to ensure price stability over time – which has been given to us by the treaty – is there because it is a condition for sustainable growth and job creation. are you concerned that a number of households which have accumulated big debts in the past will face serious problems paying them back in the future because of the interest rate hikes that you have decided during the last year? i would ask those households which feel that interest rates are too high at the moment to compare with the interest rates they had in the same economies before the introduction of the euro! but households tend to forget what happened before the euro. and some of them have accumulated big debts during the last two to three years and now they may be facing difficulties in servicing them. do you have a golden rule to suggest to the households, so that they

all sensitivities in a fully multi - partisan way. i would say it was very good that germany embarked on such a fiscal commitment. the progress made in cost competitiveness during the last years was also good. in germany, vat is about to rise by three percentage points. how harmful is such a tax hike to price stability in the euro zone? it is a decision that was taken a long time ago and was incorporated in our projections since then. it is clear that it has an impact on growth in germany and europe – we will have to see how much exactly. there is a mainstream consideration that there will be a little hump in the present last quarter of this year and a little bit of a slump in the first quarter of next year. we will see. but those who think that it will affect the german economy – and therefore the economy of europe – very profoundly are not very numerous anymore. what structural reforms are necessary in germany and europe as a whole? for germany and europe as a whole the message is the same : actively continue to implement structural reforms. the goal is to be flexible, to adapt to an environment that is changing very rapidly. it is important for germany, the first economy in europe. it is important for europe as a whole. and those reforms are paying off when we look at ireland or denmark, for instance. does size matter? is it easier for denmark? i don ’ t think so. there are many other examples of bigger countries like canada or australia. those flexible economies which have done well, which are prosperous and leading in job creation. i think it ’ s the privilege of countries where public opinion sees more clearly that everybody is better off when the economy as a whole is more flexible. you named countries that make progress. could you also specify euro zone countries that have difficulties in adapting? all countries in europe, and amongst them the three big ones germany, france and italy have more or less difficulties to adapt. but let me add something. we see what we lose by not having done all those reforms. we could be better off, we could have more prosperity, more growth, more jobs. but it would equally be a mistake to think that nothing has been achieved in the euro area. i will give you a figure that shows what i mean : since the euro has been set up, 11. 5 million jobs were created in the euro area. now, what would you say how many jobs were created in the united states during that