costs, thereby encouraging household and business consumption and investment decisions. with interest rates at historically low levels, and some even in negative territory, and after deploying extraordinary credit - support programmes, central banks have set about managing the size and composition of their balance sheet as a monetary policy instrument, through the so - called quantitative easing programmes. under qe, the eurosystem purchases outright on the secondary market private and public debt instruments, the former encompassing covered bonds, securitisations and corporate debt, and the latter securities issued by governments, european agencies and, since december 2015, regional and local governments. cumulative asset purchases over the period of almost two years in which the purchase programme has been in place now stand at around €1. 5 trillion, with public debt securities accounting for over 80 %. the extension of the asset purchase programme until the end of 2017, at least, will mean that the volume of assets acquired by the eurosystem may exceed €2 trillion, tantamount to around 20 % of euro area gdp. european structural and governance reforms euro area governments have focused their reform efforts since 2010 on two fronts : i ) european union institutions and euro area governance arrangements ; and ii ) domestic structural reforms. in the area of governance, the reforms were initially geared to strengthening national budgetary policy surveillance mechanisms, extending the multilateral surveillance perimeter to macroeconomic imbalances and agreeing on the creation of the european systemic risk board, the new european body entrusted with macroprudential supervision. that said, it was the risk in 2011 - 12 of the single currency breaking up which prompted the decision to undertake the reform of eu governance, moving towards a new model that 5 / 7 would transfer to the area as a whole many of the responsibilities for supervising banks and managing bank crises, which we know as the banking union. following this initial momentum, which culminated in the launch of the single supervisory mechanism in late 2014 and the approval of new directives on capital requirements and resolution, political considerations are hampering further steps in financial union projects ; and progress on the reform agenda considered by national governments has been uneven. the reform agenda in spain in spain, from 2010 onwards, the reforms carried out have provided for a better adjustment of labour costs to firms ’ cyclical position, preventing employment from being the only adjustment factor. the reforms have also been conducive to a greater degree of flexibility in the organisation of work within firms. these factors have played a significant role in improving our economy ’

of public finances that ensures their sustainability and provides for fiscal policy headroom to boost investment and growth. last but by no means least, the demographic developments our country will foreseeably face in the coming decades, like other eu members, place greater and more pressing demands on the economic policy responses to the foregoing challenges. this is because a progressively older population makes it more difficult to entrench budgetary sustainability and to ensure long - term economic growth. conclusion as we all know, the economic and political context in which we must face these challenges is not exactly going to be an easy one. the plans for european unity, in their various configurations prior to those we have today, have over the almost 60 years since the project was launched overcome highly diverse difficulties. but i believe that today the risks are high because political repudiation – attributable in part to the crisis, but not only to the crisis – is on the agenda, and this was non - existent or insubstantial only a decade ago. for the first time since the signing of the european union treaty in 1992, political currents and popular movements have arisen in the eu openly contrary to the integration so far achieved and, of course, to potential further steps towards greater integration ; contrary to european institutions and their current remits ; and contrary to the continuity of the single currency. the announced departure by the united kingdom, whatever its final form, is going to encourage these movements. in this situation, national governments, european union authorities and legislators all have a responsibility to come up with the appropriate response and to pursue the reforms that may first contain misgivings and then restore support, relatively seamlessly, for the grand european union project. to conclude, allow me to return to monetary policy and central bank action. as we approach the twentieth anniversary of the launching of the euro, we can have no doubts about the crucial importance of preserving and strengthening the monetary union and the single currency in order to sustain and give continuity to the european union project. many thanks, once more, to fomento de trabajo nacional for this celebratory event and to all of you for your attention.. 7 / 7