and product markets and the creation of a favourable and competitive environment for firms are vital to support potential growth and raise employment rates as the demographic effects materialise. completing the eu internal market – including the market for services – should be a key priority. on the labour supply side, tax and benefit system reforms are essential to provide stronger incentives for people to stay in or enter the labour market. on the labour demand side, there is a need to promote wage flexibility and address labour market rigidities. moreover, better education and training are important for the development of human capital. the forthcoming meeting of the european council on 23 - 24 march 2006 will review progress made with the lisbon strategy, which was relaunched last year. we strongly support the initiatives taken by the european commission and the european council to revive this reform process. a full and effective realisation of the necessary reforms is the key to the long - term economic success of the european union. we are now at your disposal for questions.

markets that the ecb was unwavering would put a halt to the downward spiral. i was determined to make that point forcefully. and the markets did the rest. so once you ’ d said this and it had a market reaction, did you have a clear plan then of what you were going to do to back it up? a strong commitment to intervene in an unlimited fashion supported by an equally credible commitment of the country concerned. given the experience with smp, that commitment needed to be clearly spelled out and backed by a programme with the then efsf, now the esm. the sense is now that it has acted as a nuclear deterrent. you never really needed to draw on it because markets find it so convincing. were you convinced yourself at the point you created it that markets wouldn ’ t test it? the second meeting was in early september. then we were ready to be tested. the continuation of the favourable market reaction in my eyes showed that it was really a crisis of confidence that we needed to address. yes. that was the genius of it. did you figure that it might have a chance of working that way? the message was expected to calm the markets, but i also knew this message would be sustained if the countries undertook reforms needed to cement those lower spreads and to 5 / 10 bis central bankers'speeches produce sustainable growth. and of course omt was crucially upheld in the court. that pronouncement of the ecj confirmed the legitimacy of our actions. to call a cat a cat, if you ’ re looking at your tenure do you think you ’ ve had any impact on german public opinion? well, the ecb. let ’ s not personalise it. the behaviour of the ecb during the crisis, the fact that after so many years we ’ re still together, that the economy has now fully recovered of course helped. i would never miss an opportunity to say, employment increased by almost 11 million in less than six years. in the euro area we lost fewer jobs in the crisis and then created more new ones than was the case in the united states. and germany, the country where our conversation is taking place right now, is actually doing not only better than many others but very well in absolute terms and the best in 40 years. in fact, germany ’ s real gdp growth, on a yearly basis, has been positive for 24 consecutive quarters and the unemployment rate stands at its post - unification historical low of 3. 1