the unified europe continues using a clause that allows it to remain outside the euro bloc, will this not hamper the union in the short and medium term? is this not an ongoing problem for those 313 million citizens of the euro bloc? jean - claude trichet : “ i would draw your attention to the fact that 313 million citizens, even without the united kingdom, is still a little bit more than the united states. personally, i am convinced that the united kingdom will one day join the economic and monetary union because it is in its interests to do so. of course, the decision will be taken by the people of the united kingdom themselves, by way of a referendum. i am convinced of the sincerity of the uk prime minister, who did not conceal the fact that, in his opinion, it would be in the united kingdom ’ s interests to enter the economic and monetary union when the time comes. ” is the first employment contract a necessity for france? jean - claude trichet : “ we do not make judgements on individual measures. i can say that from an economic perspective and from that of the fight against mass unemployment, it is clear that moving towards greater flexibility is moving in the right direction. ” there are those who ask themselves whether france is capable of change at all and capable of implementing any reforms. jean - claude trichet : “ i certainly believe that france, like all european countries, can implement reforms. it has changed profoundly in the last 20 years. but i also think that france, like others in europe, is implementing reforms too slowly, and reform at a slow rate has an associated price. in the world we live in today this has a heavy price. the world nowadays changes very, very, very fast given the challenges of science, technology and globalisation. ” is the wish to see rapid change in france no more than a utopia bearing in mind the current situation? jean - claude trichet : “ i think that the characteristics of each and every country are of course linked to its history. what characterises france historically is slow change over long periods of time, alongside very rapid changes in relatively short periods of time. if we look at the euro area as a whole, then clearly that situation would also be much better if it were to embark on the reforms more quickly. ” do you think that the israeli economy is attractive enough for the europeans today? jean - claude trichet : “ i believe that the israeli economy is definitely a significant one, thanks in particular

must subsequently develop the rules and standards that are needed in order to establish technical interoperability for card payments. another important issue is cards standardisation, which is crucial to ensure the interoperability and harmonised use of cards across europe. in the area of standardisation, there is a clear separation of responsibilities. first, the european payments council ( epc ) is responsible for the strategic vision and business rules for cards. second, the cards stakeholders group is responsible for establishing functional, security and procedural requirements. third, various market initiatives have developed implementation standards and specifications for the various domains of card payments. this is very welcome ; however, work on the implementation of these specifications is lagging behind and should be accelerated. in the field of security certification for cards and terminals, a set of implementation specifications have been developed by the common approval scheme ( cas ). however, governance - related aspects of the sepa security certification framework are still under discussion. therefore, we urge the epc and cas members to swiftly agree on concrete proposals for a permanent governance structure with regard to security certification for cards and terminals. last, but not least, i would like to stress that, from a european perspective, it is of strategic importance to adopt a more coordinated approach to global standard - setting bodies, such as the iso and emvco. these requirements should lay the foundation for a competitive european cards market. however, i personally believe that the european cards market would also benefit from the power of choice. therefore, a duopoly in the european cards market is not the outcome that i would prefer to see for the sepa project, which brings me to new year ’ s resolution number three. new year ’ s resolution number three : let ’ s move forward with an additional european card scheme the eurosystem has been calling for an additional european card scheme for four years. therefore, we are closely monitoring the work of the three initiatives that have been launched. it is important to emphasise that we have not selected any “ favourite ” out of the three projects, but treat all three equally. all three face some of the same challenges : the main challenge is certainty as regards the potential business case. some clarity has been provided with regard to the sensitive issue of multilateral interchange fees ( mif ) thanks to the agreements reached by the eu commission with visa and mastercard. however, the market asks for more certainty and it may be that this must ultimately be provided in the form of a regulation. i would