global economy and finance, the g20 has replaced the g7. this means that henceforth all the emerging countries as well as the industrialised countries with a systemic influence at the global level bear full responsibility for the governance of the integrated global economy. how do you envisage this governance developing in the medium and long term? governance today is still founded on the notion of sovereign states in a “ westphalian ” world, which does not correspond to the new governance needs of an integrated global economy. the big challenge right now is to speed up the move to a system of global governance that fits the new world that we have created over time, in particular over the past 20 years following the collapse of the soviet empire and the conversion of large emerging countries to the market economy. what is your view on the current economic situation in france? france, like all of the other european countries, is asked to subject itself to a very sizeable fiscal consolidation exercise. this will help to engender confidence and thus to consolidate the recovery and, in turn, create jobs. like all euro area countries, france is encouraged to continue to actively implement reforms. the euro area as a whole can and must increase its potential for growth and job creation. the extensive reforms that have been undertaken in all countries, such as the pension reform in france, are needed. they are a step in the direction of fiscal responsibility and the smoother functioning of the european economy, and of the french economy, and will lead to more growth and jobs.

, what we have got at the end makes sense from an economic point of view. basically, we had a substantial impact on credit markets, which is good as financial conditions were worsening and credit spreads were going up. what dominated was very much the tltro and the broadening to corporate bonds of the asset purchases. in terms of other asset prices, i believe markets are very conscious already that the monetary policy courses of the major world currency areas remain quite on different trajectories as they reflect fundamentally different domestic underlying conditions. as we have said few times in the past, the fact that there are significant and increasing differences in the monetary policy cycle between major advanced economies will become ever more evident in the near future. but do you think the market is right to believe there will not be more cuts? in the introductory statement we said very clearly that we “ expect the key ecb interest rates to remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of our net asset purchases. so you haven ’ t reached the lower bound? bis central bankers ’ speeches no, we haven ’ t. as other central banks have demonstrated, we have not reached the physical lower bound. this re - composition of the tool - box does not mean that we have thrown away any of our tools. if new negative shocks should worsen the outlook or if financing conditions should not adjust in the direction and to the extent that is necessary to boost the economy and inflation, a rate reduction remains in our armoury. on corporate bonds purchases : would this instrument be accessible for companies like, let ’ s say, volkswagen? yes, as long as they have investment grade. you have corporate bonds in other sectors too, such as utilities, insurance, telecommunications, energy. don ’ t you think you are entering the dangerous territory of choosing who to distribute money to? for example, you may end up favoring larger companies. normally what you do is that you give liquidity to the bank in exchange of collateral. here, you take a direct exposure. the other point is, you want to avoid influencing relative prices. we asked the committees to work on the specific definition of the bonds we will buy. we could buy something that is close to the index, but excluding banks, so that we avoid price distortions in the corporate bond market. the important point is that if the price goes up because you are buying non - financial corporations, there will be search for other bonds by the