at between 1 and 1. 5 percentage point for the period 2014 - 18. what is more, since 2013 the euro area has created 11 million jobs. you may not like low rates ; indeed the markets anticipate, reasonably in my view, that short - term rates are close to bottoming out. but there can be no doubt about two very real facts that unite us on the governing council. our decisions are guided solely by our mandate of price stability, in the face of inflation that is currently too low at less than 1 %. given the recent slowdown in economic activity – starting with germany – these low short - term rates must and will remain in place : it would undeniably be a mistake to raise ecb rates now. we are all realists here, so we should focus on two issues : - the first is clarifying the definition of the ecb ’ s inflation target, and above all sharing it better with economic agents – businesses and households. this is crucial to allow them to better adjust their inflation expectations ; that is precisely the aim of the strategic focus we are going to launch with christine lagarde. - the second issue is limiting the negative effects of low rates on financial stability, and in particular on banks and insurers. we do not lack the tools to do this – you with your strategic adaptation, and us with our “ macroprudential ” policies. but this brings me to my second part. ii. meeting three major challenges to strengthen euro area banks. i would like to share with you a strong belief : europe needs strong banks. a dynamic economy requires a strong banking industry ; it's true in france, and it's also true in germany. undeniably, euro area banks are stronger than they were ten years ago. as a result of regulations and of their streamlining efforts, they page 5 sur 7 were able to significantly shore up their balance sheets. in particular, their solvency and liquidity have improved, while the weight of npl has drastically declined : their common equity tier 1 ratios ( cet1 ) rose from 9 % at end - 2009 to 14. 6 % in june 2019. in addition, the major german banks themselves have seen their npl amount fall more than twofold over the past five years, sliding from eur 81 billion at end - 2014iii to eur 33 billion at end - march 2019. euro area banks are nevertheless experiencing a serious problem of profitability, which is

. access through the portal is simple and quick ; in three clicks users can access free content carefully chosen for its educational qualities, neutrality and freshness. we have opted for a similar approach to the dutch " money wise " platform, in that it is both practical, with a limited amount of entries and materials, as well as cooperative, offering a variety of sources from all of our partners. in order to ensure that the national strategy is rapidly implemented, we rely on the operational committee, which i chair, and which is responsible for management and coordination. our roadmap for 2017 is clear : during the first half of the year, operational objectives will be defined and available resources will be identified ; and during the second half, a robust and effective assessment methodology will be developed. we are already actively working on introducing specific mechanisms for people in financial difficulty and students. to help those experiencing financial difficulties, we are working closely with social service providers to produce practical educational materials covering seven concrete subjects : budgeting, relationships with banks, credit, bank payment incidents, banking inclusion, overindebtedness and complaints. from june 2017, these materials will be made available to social workers and associations so that they can be used with people in financial difficulty. by the end of the year, the banque de france's teams have planned to hold nearly 900 meetings to present in detail these educational materials, as well as the " mes questions d'argent " portal, to 14, 000 social service providers. for students, in december 2016 the ministry of education set up a group of experts in which the banque de france and the french institute for public financial education actively participate. the group's objective is to develop appropriate educational materials that help teachers to introduce primary school pupils to the concepts of money, budgeting, credit and savings, and then to build on that knowledge in secondary schools and, if possible, up to the age of 18. the first information kits approved by the group of experts will be supplied to teachers for the beginning of the new school year in september 2017. the banque de france will promote their use to teachers in academies in accordance with its brief defined by the ministry of education. * * * 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches allow me to conclude by quoting the american musician, pete seeger, who had these wise words : " do you know the difference between education and experience? education is when you read the fine print ; experience is what you get when you don ’