to react more strongly to economic downturns, without endangering price stability. second, as far as we can judge at this stage, the stance of policy was carefully calibrated to the economic situation and the given structure of the euro area. there is no convincing evidence available suggesting that the ecb might have been inappropriately passive or inactive. third, the critique that the ecb ’ s monetary policy in recent years has provided insufficient support to the economy cannot be confirmed. the euro area policy rate in recent years, if anything, may have been relatively low compared with some of the benchmarks that can be constructed on the basis of past data, and by this standard the ecb could be judged as having been accommodative rather than having done “ too little, too late ”. concluding remarks in concluding, let me first recall my own remarks from the very first of these watchers conferences held back in june 1999. on that occasion, i said : “ we are all journeying, in uncharted waters, towards a destination that is far from certain. ” almost seven years on, that journey is coming to an end for me – at least in my capacity as a member of the ecb ’ s executive board. since 1999, we have made considerable progress in mapping those uncharted waters, although much further exploration remains to be done. confounding the many sceptics at the outset of monetary union, the ecb has firmly established its credibility and reputation. longer - term inflation expectations have been firmly anchored and a robust and durable monetary policy framework has been created. the journey is not yet complete, but a successful start has been made. this watchers conference is a unique event. the center for financial studies in the persons of first axel weber and now volker wieland has not only been a perfect organiser, but has given permanent intellectual input. in the end, it was our decision to meet our watchers, our critics from all camps : academia, banks, markets and media. for me it has always been a great challenge. i have learnt a lot from these conferences – i would not have liked to miss this experience. i do hope that this event will continue to provide a platform for frank and open discussions of monetary policy issues and beyond.

yves mersch : remarks on the future of economic governance in europe and the euro introductory address by mr yves mersch, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the panel “ the agenda for europe ”, at ambrosetti's finance forum on “ the outlook for the economy and finance ”, villa d ’ este, cernobbio, 8 april 2017. * * * in a year of anniversaries – the sixtieth anniversary of the rome treaty and the twentyfifth anniversary of the maastricht treaty –, our union finds itself amidst a debate about its raison d ’ etre and its future. earlier this week, the eu commission discussed in strasbourg “ a road map towards a complete economic and monetary union in 2025 ” as part of a “ reflection paper ”. in january, the high - level group on own resources ( hlgor ) chaired by mario monti has been presented in the european parliament and in the council. it is reflecting on finding more transparent, simple, fair and democratically accountable ways to finance the eu. and we are approaching the second stage of the “ five presidents ’ report ” with the aim of completing the architecture of economic and monetary union. as a central banker, i will focus on the state of economic governance in europe. i will first share some considerations on what has been achieved so far. i will then discuss how we could further improve the functioning of our economic and monetary union in the future and invigorate trust and support from european citizens. the key role of monetary policy in stabilising the euro area economy as the central bank issuing the euro, we are responsible for the stability of the single currency. our monetary policy measures played a key role in stabilising the european economy. the european central bank acted decisively by deploying a range of conventional and unconventional monetary policy measures, allowing to reduce financial fragmentation, avoid deflation, and support price stability and thereby the economic recovery. while an effective lower bound for short - term interest rates exists, monetary policy, shifted to steering medium to long - term rates despite of its higher dependency on international capital markets. the ecb employed non - standard measures including forward guidance and asset purchases to deal with the lower bound constraint. these instruments have been effective in narrowing spreads ( term and liquidity premia ) and lowering the exchange rates, thus supporting the ongoing recovery. shortcomings in other policy fields delayed the recovery the economic outlook has