outside the eurozone. primarily that ’ s about trade tensions, as we ’ ve just discussed. that ’ s about escalation of trade tensions denting business confidence globally, and that ’ s the main risk. could the ecb have to rethink its path between supporting growth and fighting inflation because of these risks? these risks were discussed when the governing council met in riga last month. we discussed risks thoroughly and we designed a path of sustained monetary accommodation, anticipating that net asset purchases end in december 2018, but with a continued degree of monetary accommodation being delivered by rate guidance – enhanced guidance on rates – and by reinvestment policy. that is the balance we struck in riga and it already took account of the risks. 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches despite all these headwinds we ’ ve been discussing, the ecb still plans to exit qe by the end of this year. what could derail these plans? that ’ s clearly what we anticipate. now, that said, it will be data dependent – as with everything we do. but as we speak, in mid - july, i see no reason to change our expectations. there has been some confusion among investors about the ecb keeping rates on hold until “ at least through the summer of 2019 ” ; can you explain to us again what this means? “ at least through the summer ” means “ at least through the summer ”. it is date - based guidance, which so far we haven ’ t done, so it ’ s a step forward in enhancing our forward guidance. at the same time, it gives us enough flexibility to adjust depending on the data flow. does that mean we could see a decision on rates as soon as september 2019? that ’ s not something i can comment on today, by definition ; we did not discuss it in riga. could this actually come before the summer of 2019? could we see any change of policies before then, depending on the risk we are currently seeing? the expectation is that rates will remain low, at the current level, at least through the summer of 2019. the ecb wants to keep this guidance quite vague at the moment? it ’ s not vague ; it ’ s precise enough to anchor, to pin down money market rates. it has been, by the way, very effective. it has been well understood by the market, so i see no reason to change it while it works. mario draghi, the ecb president,

has flagged that the reinvestment of maturing bonds could be the next important policy step for the ecb. will this become a way for the ecb to provide a little easing? it is an important part of a package of measures that delivers monetary accommodation, sustained monetary accommodation beyond the end of net asset purchases, that is, after december 2018. there are two aspects : we have the enhanced rate guidance and we have the reinvestment policy. so it is clearly part of the package. it will ensure that the ecb keeps a very significant market presence beyond the end of the net asset purchases and for an extended period of time after the end of the asset purchases. that said, we haven ’ t discussed any details, so any details related to the maturity of our reinvestment, that ’ s a technical discussion. that ’ s not something the governing council or even our committees have discussed. is it going to be done before the end of this year? we ’ ll certainly have to discuss it. i see it as a technical discussion ; i don ’ t see it as a major aspect of our monetary policy when it comes to the maturities. but the commitment to reinvest is important because it will ensure a continued market presence, which is important to maintain the degree of monetary accommodation. could these reinvestments exceed €160 billion next year, could they be closer to €200 billion, for example? the reinvestments are quite mechanical. they derive from past investment policy. as you know, we are committed to being very transparent. we are publishing the reinvestments 12 months in advance so you will have the numbers when they come. 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches there is some flexibility when it comes to reinvestments. can the ecb and some national central banks reinvest a government bond into a corporate bond, or viceversa? that is not something we ’ ve discussed. that will be a technical discussion. what i don ’ t expect is any departure from the principle of capital key investment of government bonds, which has been a key principle at the heart of our public sector purchase programme. there are reports about some kind of “ operation twist ” from the ecb about buying longterm bonds. is this happening? as i said, that ’ s not something we ’ ve discussed. that ’ s something you ’ re planning to discuss? that ’ s something that ’ s on the table?