and tackling the shared challenges we face. 1 see mion, giordano and ponattu, dominic ( 2019 ), “ estimating economic benefits of the single market for european countries and regions ”, bertelsmannstiftung policy paper. 2 philippon, thomas ( 2019 ), the great reversal : how america gave up on free markets, belknap press. 3 faccio, mara and zingales, luigi ( 2017 ), “ political determinants of competition in the mobile telecommunication industry ”, nber working papers 23041, national bureau of economic research. 4 see european parliament factsheet ( 2019 ), “ the european union and its trade partners ”, www. europarl. europa. eu / factsheets / en / sheet / 160 / the - european - union - and - its - trade - partners 5 standard eurobarometer survey 92, autumn 2019. 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches 6 bergbauer, stephanie, hernborg, nils, jamet, jean - francois and persson, eric ( 2020 ), “ the reputation of the euro and the european central bank : interlinked or disconnected? ”, journal of european public policy, january. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches

united states. a union where the central bank is called upon by certain politicians to decide on the membership of certain states cannot be right. the central bank should just do the work of a central bank, i. e. maintain price stability over the medium term, and should not be called upon to take such decisions. that is why we have to move towards greater political integration. certainly, we have been criticised for making allegedly political decisions. those on one side say that we should have cut ela to the greek banking sector much earlier – not only frozen, but cut it, and cut it to zero ‒ and those on the other side say that we should have extended ela further, unconditionally, even if that would be a violation of the treaty. all in all, given these extreme criticisms, i think we have acted in an independent and balanced way. do you think any mistakes were made in terms of how greece was handled during the last few years? well, i can only speak for the ecb and, obviously, i am a biased observer. the very nature of any crisis is that you are working under intense pressure to come up with a solution. what i can say with confidence is that the ecb has always acted within its mandate and outside of politics. and what ’ s your main message for the greek government right now? it is a very critical moment ‒ we have just had an election and the review lies ahead. my message is one of hope and determination. greece has been through a very rough period in which the economic and living conditions of the greek people have worsened considerably. the cost for the country, the economy and society alike, has been high. but recently, with bis central bankers ’ speeches enormous determination, the greek people and the greek government have re - established political and economic stability. my message is : build on this and do not let a sense of desperation take over again. fight to maintain the stability that you have rebuilt at great cost, and very soon you will see the benefits. that is the message i want to send and, frankly, the message that i would listen to, if i were in that situation. let me ask you now about non - greek issues. there is also discussion, as you know, about the debt crisis and at some point there was a real fear that it was going to hit spain, italy and france. does that still worry you, or do you think that it is completely off the table and, if so