. they need a certain amount of time to take in decisions of such magnitude. this will happen gradually. but the measures are so significant in terms of both their nature and their scale that there is no doubt that they will have a positive effect on the markets. the amounts involved are indeed sizeable, but it appears that the markets are unclear about the way in which they might be mobilised … in my view, the concrete implementation of the mechanism is taking place properly, and the most remarkable aspect is the speed with which parliamentary decisions have been taken in the countries in question. if, for some reason, greece does not honour its commitments, might there be a need for a “ plan b ”? that is not part of our working assumption. greece must and will honour its commitments. the european commission, together with the ecb on the one hand and the imf on the other, is following developments in the recovery programme very closely. should we anticipate a debt restructuring programme? no, but allow me to make a general comment : the euro area has an average annual deficit – as a percentage of gross domestic product – of around 6. 5 % and 7 %, which is substantially lower than that of the united states, japan or the united kingdom, where it is around 10 % or higher of their gross domestic product. sometimes, one imagines a sort of anglo - saxon plot against the euro. what do you think of this? no, one should be wary of any conspiracy theories. i simply believe that some international investors struggle to understand europe and its decision - making mechanisms. they have difficulty in gauging the historical size of the european construction and in anticipating the capacity of europeans to take decisions that are just as important as those taken a few days ago. having said that, one should not be complacent : we have some very serious problems and we need to draw some serious lessons. the supervision of fiscal policies, of developments in competitiveness in the euro area economies and of structural reforms needs to be radically improved. we are a monetary union. we now need the equivalent of a fiscal union in terms of monitoring and supervising the implementation of policies on public finances. can this be achieved by creating new institutions? as a first attempt, we have to take the treaties as the starting point, as they stand. however, if we fully exploit everything that the treaties permit and greatly improve the “ secondary legislation ” from brussels, i believe that we will be able to make the

we take a very cautious view on bank taxes. it seems to us that we must first draw the lessons from the financial crisis with regard to prudential regulations, in particular the basel iii rules. the question of a possible tax should come second. that said, i am deeply concerned by this gulf between the values of our democracies and those of the financial world, reflected particularly in the abnormal behaviours observed so often in recent years. this problem is faced by all of our democratic societies, and certainly on both sides of the atlantic. the values of the financial world must change. in the prevailing ethos, they will no longer be tolerated as they are.