the post - pandemic monetary policy stance is appropriately calibrated in order to ensure timely convergence to our medium - term inflation aim. to these ends, the ecb governing council stands ready to adjust all of its instruments, as appropriate. especially in an environment of low inflation and low interest rates, monetary and fiscal policies have the potential to reinforce each other. in particular, in relation to the price stability mandate, the scale of the monetary policy adjustment required to neutralise the negative pandemic shock to inflation dynamics and sustain the subsequent convergence to the inflation aim depends on the extent of the fiscal support for the economic recovery. all euro area countries have taken significant fiscal measures in response to the pandemic crisis. over the near - term and medium - term, national governments will need to continue supporting their economies to recover from the severe pandemic shock. the recently - agreed €750 billion eu recovery fund – the next generation eu initiative – puts in place a shared budgetary instrument that both complements and supports national fiscal actions. an ambitious, high - quality and coordinated fiscal stance is central to securing a strong recovery across the euro area and constitutes a vital complement to the support provided by monetary policy. finally, the emerging lessons from the policy response to the pandemic shock will also feed into our monetary policy strategy review. the strategy review will be an important focus for our work over the next year. [ 1 ] i am grateful to ine van robays and leopold von thadden for their contributions to this speech. [ 2 ] i discussed the ecb ’ s response to the pandemic crisis in more detail in a recent speech. see lane, p. r. ( 2020 ), “ the ecb ’ s monetary policy response to the pandemic : liquidity, stabilisation and supporting the recovery ”, 24 june. [ 3 ] since the ecb was already an active purchaser of both sovereign and private - sector securities, the pepp could be rolled out quite quickly. on 12 march, the ecb had already expanded the size of its long - established asset purchase programme ( app ) with an additional eur 120 billion allocated for the rest of 2020. the 18 march launch of the pepp was in recognition that a temporary and flexible programme was better suited to respond to the exceptional nature of the pandemic shock, rather than just relying on a mechanical expansion of the app. [ 4 ] see also lane, p. r. (

jean - claude trichet : hearing before the economic and monetary affairs committee of the european parliament introductory remarks by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, brussels, 30 march 2009. * * * madame la presidente, mesdames et messieurs les membres de la commission economique et monetaire, je me rejouis d ’ etre entendu pour la troisieme fois par le parlement europeen depuis le debut de cette annee, et pour la deuxieme fois par votre commission. je n ’ oublie pas non plus la rencontre conjointe du parlement europeen et des parlements nationaux en fevrier. la rencontre d ’ aujourd ’ hui est la derniere prevue au cours de cette mandature. elle revet donc une importance particuliere. permettez - moi des a present de vous remercier pour les echanges de vues stimulants et riches que nous avons eus au cours des cinq dernieres annees. il ne s ’ agit pas moins de ma vingt - et - unieme audition devant votre commission, ce qui atteste de l ’ intensite des relations entre la bce et les representants elus des citoyens europeens. heute mochte ich mich auf vier themen konzentrieren : die aktuelle wirtschaftliche lage, die struktur der finanzierung privater immobilien im eurogebiet, die auswirkungen der krise auf eine zukunftige einfuhrung des euro in den mitgliedstaaten in mittel - und osteuropa und schließlich die vorschlage zur reform der bankenaufsicht in europa. ich hoffe, dass ich damit auf einige der wichtigsten themen eingehe, bevor ich mich wie ublich ihren fragen stelle. economic and monetary developments let me begin with the economic situation and our recent monetary policy decisions. please note that, with only three days before our next monetary policy meeting this thursday, i am in the so - called "