why we need to do more to explain what advantages europe brings, for each and every one of us, and what prosperity. we must again emphasise how important it is to have peace and that europe is a major reason why we have enjoyed peace for so many years now. you were born in 1964, for your grandparents ’ generation, was the war a topic...... that was very much alive.... did your family talk about it? not with my grandparents, but with my parents. my mother was with her sister and my grandmother in dresden when it was bombed. they were the only ones to come out of the cellar alive. 1 / 7 bis central bankers'speeches that was obviously something we talked about. something very important. we also talked a lot about what happened after 1945, how my mother had suffered from terrible hunger. she had lost her father and the three women had to get by on their own. yes, that was an extremely important topic in our family. my parents came from east germany, from saxony and thuringia, and both escaped over the border. perhaps i have a very particular background in that sense. you are clearly a genuinely committed european. you ’ ve taken a pro - european stance since, and i think this is really interesting, you were a young woman living in the united states of all places. you spent a year there as an exchange student. what happened there that made such an impression on you? first of all, that year made a big impression on me as regards tolerance, because i felt what it was like to be a foreigner. i was a foreigner for a year and i had to constantly justify why i held a different opinion. one of my subjects at school was called “ discussion and debate ”. during those special classes i joined the us pupils in learning how to discuss and debate issues, for one hour a day, five days a week. it was the early 1980s and the teacher took full advantage of a european ’ s presence in her class. so every day, for a whole year, i stood up alone and defended european ideas, european values. i lived in the bible belt, the extremely conservative states in the middle of the united states, and defended our european values every day. so europe is a driving force in your personal life in any case. is it also a driving force for you as a member of the ecb ’ s executive board? that is my job. it would be appall

limited impact on the euro area, thanks to our monetary policy. we will watch closely to make sure that financial conditions are appropriate for the state of our economy. and the second conclusion, which is more general, more political, if you will, is that we are in a world full of uncertainties ( economic, political ) ; a framework for international cooperation is needed. so whatever decisions mr trump and his administration may take, what we want is for them to be analysed and discussed in an international context, particularly in the context of the g20, which is really the forum where such discussions should take place. aren ’ t you worried, however, about the protectionist measures that donald trump is planning in the months, the years, to come? again, nobody knows, it ’ s too early to know what he ’ s going to do exactly, but protectionism, right now, is clearly a bad idea. we live in a world where productivity and innovation ( the output of innovation, the spread of innovation ) are what matters to ensure prosperity. it is difficult to imagine that a world in which borders are closed to both goods and capital, and to the free movement of people, would favour innovation. so, economically speaking it ’ s a bad idea, yes. 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches protectionism is a bad idea. inflation has also returned to europe, but the european central bank is at the moment refusing to increase its interest rates. why? inflation is increasing, but for a reason which is very simple and easy to identify, which is the increase in commodity prices, or rather the end of a period marked by sharp falls in commodities. so it ’ s our job to understand to what extent that increase in the price of raw materials and food will have a lasting impact on inflation. at the moment, that is not the case. it ’ s something that we are watching and will watch carefully in the coming months. but for the time being, this increase is temporary and does not justify ending the ecb ’ s policy, particularly quantitative easing. in other words, very low rates, almost at zero, and liquidity injections through the markets, through asset purchases on the market. precisely. that day will come, the day when we have that discussion will come, and i will welcome it because it will be a sign that the economy is healthier, but today it ’ s still a little too early. when will that be? in 2018?