have increased. it is now more than ever important and necessary that europe responds cohesively and decisively to the challenges it is facing. i believe we should remember the words of a great european, carlo azeglio ciampi, spoken in this room more than ten years ago : “ if we act alone we will be at the mercy of events bigger than us, events that threaten peace and european security. ” i am confident that the foundations on which the eu project is built are strong enough to achieve the objectives that have been entrusted to us by the people of europe. i am now looking forward to the debate. thank you for your attention. 4 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches

mario draghi : introductory statement to the plenary debate of the european parliament on the european central bank's annual report 2015 introductory statement by mr mario draghi, president of the european central bank, to the plenary debate of the european parliament on the european central bank's annual report 2015, strasbourg, 21 november 2016. * * * i am happy to be back at the european parliament to discuss with you the ecb annual report for 2015. this debate is an important pillar of our accountability. we take your comments and suggestions very seriously. at your request, last year we began publishing the ecb ’ s feedback on your resolution on the ecb annual report. on 4 october 2016 the governing council also approved principles increasing transparency in developing ecb regulations on european statistics. these principles take into account the transparency practices of the european parliament, the council of the european union and the european commission. in my remarks today, i will retrace the economic developments since our last plenary exchange in february. in particular, i will discuss the role of the ecb ’ s monetary policy in supporting the ongoing recovery. i will also review the policy agenda aimed at addressing current vulnerabilities in the euro area. economic developments and the role of the ecb ’ s monetary policy in supporting the recovery the euro area recovery continues to proceed at a moderate, but steady, pace. it has shown remarkable resilience to adverse developments and uncertainties emanating from the global environment. in fact, euro area unemployment has been steadily declining. more than four million jobs have been created since 2013, when the situation was at its worst. domestic demand has also strengthened and real gdp growth has recorded positive figures for 14 consecutive quarters. since the beginning of the year headline inflation has gradually picked up, moving from the negative rate of – 0. 2 in february to 0. 5 in october. our monetary policy measures since june 2014 have been a key factor behind these positive developments. asset purchases, targeted longer - term refinancing operations ( tltros ) and low policy rates have strongly supported the recovery. let me explain more in detail. first, the pass - through of our monetary stimulus to bank lending conditions has been remarkable. interest rates have fallen markedly across a broad spectrum of asset classes and credit markets since june 2014. as a result, euro area firms and households have experienced more favourable borrowing conditions. for example, bank lending rates for companies declined by more than 100 basis points between june 2014