be provided by countries only if they have the leeway granted in the sgp. china finance : in view of the increasing interests of adopting euro from non - member countries in times of financial turmoils, how do you see the need to balance between the expansion of the eurozone and maintaining its stability? trichet : as said before, the financial crisis certainly reemphasised the value of belonging to a large, single currency area. however, i do not see this as a matter of balancing – expansion can only take place while maintaining stability. the maastricht criteria will not change and this is in the interest of both the euro area as a whole and the individual candidate countries. let me only add that 2009 january did not only see the 10th anniversary of the euro, but also the joining of the 16th member state, namely slovakia, to the euro zone. if you consider that we started with 11 countries in 1999, this certainly demonstrates that the euro area is open to newcomers. china finance : how effective is monetary easing measures by the ecb in mitigating the economic recession in europe? do you see more room to maneuver in case the economic prospects continue to get worse? trichet : first, let me remind you that we have, in all circumstances, to deliver price stability in line with our definition “ less than, but close to, 2 % ”. secondly, the present unlimited provision of liquidity at a fixed rate and with a one - week, one - month, three - month and sixmonth duration can certainly be described as a non standard measure. the extension of eligibility in our collateral framework is also another non standard measure, particularly as it was already very broad and flexible. in particular, as a result of these decisions we have also expanded our balance sheet on a scale that would have been unthinkable before the crisis : around 55 % in the last 12 months. experience has demonstrated that we have to prepare for exceptional situations, and i would not exclude anything, and equally i will not pre - commit to anything ex ante. we'll always look at the situation on the basis of our own analysis, taking everything into account. china finance : the eu member countries have endorsed somewhat coordinated fiscal stimulating packages. what's your view on the impact of large scale fiscal stimulus on the short and medium term growth and on the soundness of government finance in view of the stability and growth pact? indeed some euro members sovereign debts have been down

at a global level is of the essence. china finance : the recent revised gdp data indicates that china has become the third largest economy in the world. what opportunities and challenges do you see posed by the increased role of china in the world? " trichet : the progress of the chinese economy is absolutely striking. i have myself the memory of the city of peking at the beginning of the 80 ’ s. and i can measure how difficult it is for today ’ s visitors to imagine what peking or any other chinese big city looked like only 25 years ago. this remarkable success of the chinese society and the chinese economy is profoundly changing china as well as it contributes to a profound change of the world. china is called to take all the global responsibilities which are the counterpart of its economic and financial global influence.