european central bank : press conference – introductory statement introductory statement by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, and mr lucas papademos, vice - president of the european central bank, lisbon, 6 may 2010. * * * ladies and gentlemen, the vice - president and i are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference here in lisbon. i would like to thank governor constancio for his kind hospitality and express our special gratitude to his staff for the excellent organisation of today ’ s meeting of the governing council. we will now report on the outcome of this meeting. based on its regular economic and monetary analyses, the governing council decided to leave the key ecb interest rates unchanged. the current rates remain appropriate. taking into account all new information since our meeting on 8 april 2010, we expect price developments to remain moderate over the policy - relevant horizon. global inflationary pressures – driven mainly by price developments in commodity markets and in fast - growing economic regions of the world – are still being counteracted by low domestic price pressures. the latest information has also confirmed that the economic recovery in the euro area continued in the early months of 2010. we expect the euro area economy to expand at a moderate pace in 2010, but growth patterns could be uneven in an environment of high uncertainty. our monetary analysis confirms that inflationary pressures over the medium term remain contained, as suggested by weak money and credit growth. overall, we expect price stability to be maintained over the medium term, thereby supporting the purchasing power of euro area households. inflation expectations remain firmly anchored in line with the governing council ’ s aim of keeping inflation rates below, but close to, 2 % over the medium term. the firm anchoring of inflation expectations remains of the essence. monetary policy will do all that is necessary to maintain price stability in the euro area over the medium term. accordingly, the governing council will continue to monitor all developments over the period ahead very closely. let me now explain our assessment in greater detail, starting with the economic analysis. euro area economic activity has been expanding since mid - 2009, after a period of sharp decline. notably, the economy has benefited from the ongoing recovery in the world economy, the significant macroeconomic stimulus provided and the measures adopted to restore the functioning of the banking system. recent economic data – including positive survey indicators – support the view that the economic recovery in the euro area is continuing in 2010. while adverse weather conditions, in particular, dampened growth in

respect, considerable progress has been made with the liberalisation of markets, the safeguarding of competition and institutional changes aimed at ensuring the smooth operation of product and financial markets. among these, the most important measures taken in 2001 were : the ending of the state monopoly in the electricity sector, the opening - up of the fixed telephony market and the awarding of umts licenses and supplementary cgm licenses. the liberalisation of sea transport, an area of major importance, is planned for this year. there has also been an extensive programme of privatisation. some important companies ( like olympic airways, the piraeus port authority and the postal services ) are scheduled to go through privatisation schemes this year. some publicly - owned companies only recently scheduled for privatisation include the postal savings bank and the general bank, the athens water and sewage company ( already partially privatized ) and the public gas company ( depa ). the government agenda for structural reform also includes pension reform at the centre of the current policy debate in greece ( social dialogue on this issue was launched last month and is currently underway ). some steps are also being taken to reform the health care system, where there is vast room to improve service delivery and public expenditure control. the government is also proceeding to an overall tax reform ; the proposals of an experts ’ commission were made public earlier this month ; after public discussion, the government will make its decisions in the summer and new provisions will take effect as of january 2003. the tax reform is expected not only to improve the efficiency of the greek economy, but also to reduce the administrative costs of collecting taxes and the compliance costs for the taxpayers. the challenge now is to broaden and deepen the efforts undertaken to date to strengthen competition and efficiency in factor and product markets, efforts which are essential to ensure real convergence. further progress is required on labour market reform. there remains foremost a need to facilitate labour market entry and to improve training. in product markets, the privatisation progress should be combined with broader measures to ensure competitive market outcomes across the economy. further efforts to reduce bureaucratic inefficiencies are also required to lift impediments to new businesses - including foreign direct investment. in conclusion, despite the slowdown in the world economy, the greek economy continues to perform very well. real convergence is the clear priority for the coming years and the authorities still face some major challenges to facilitate the process. nonetheless, the commitment of the authorities to both fiscal