is an unfinished construction as long as we do not have all tools in place to ensure that all euro area members are economically, fiscally and financially sufficiently resilient. to complete the economic and monetary union, we need a quantum leap towards a stronger, more efficient institutional architecture. as you know, my colleagues and i are currently working on a report that will aim at showing a roadmap for this. we are in the final stages of this process, and i hope you understand that also out of respect for my colleagues, i will not be able to tell you more than what i have already said repeatedly : that we will need to put our institutional framework on a much stronger footing ; that we need, as i just said, a quantum leap. i am now looking forward to our discussion. bis central bankers ’ speeches

take up loans. it is hoped that this investment and consumption will stimulate the economy. this should restore the inflation rate to close to 2 %. there are doubts among the general public in germany about whether the benefits of the purchase programmes outweigh the costs. the criticism is often made that, unlike for our interest rate instrument, there are no reliable empirical data on the effect of the purchases. the benefit of quantitative easing is called into question. in fact, we can identify the first positive effects on financing conditions in the euro area. however, there is uncertainty about how large the effects actually are. it is also pointed out that the potential benefits are also accompanied by risks. because there is no historical comparison for the effects of such a broad programme in the euro area, these risks are, in part, difficult to assess and almost impossible to quantify. the already mentioned side - effects of the low interest rate policy – wrong incentives for governments, financial market stability and distribution effects – are even more acute in the case of quantitative easing. further monetary policy easing? ladies and gentlemen, let me briefly summarise what has been said so far : i have explained to you why i consider the low interest rate policy to be necessary and the risks it creates for financial market stability and the sustainability of fiscal policy. one thing, however, is crucial : there are limits to expansive monetary policy. it buys time, but does not heal the structural causes of the sluggish economic recovery in the euro area and the persistently weak inflation trend. like any medicine, the beneficial effects of monetary policy measures decline with continued use, while the undesirable side - effects increase. and over - use can lead to the result that the patient feels well and no longer works on the causes of the illness. in that case, longterm harm cannot be ruled out. even though less than a year has passed since the decision to launch the quantitative easing programme, new measures are being considered, such as the expansion of the programme. although certain successes of the programme are visible in the financial markets ( for example, in the form of lower interest rates for long - term borrowing ) the hopes of a rapid normalisation of medium - term inflation expectations have not yet been fulfilled. bis central bankers ’ speeches however, this raises two questions. are the inflation and economic outlooks so bad that new measures are needed? and how effective can further monetary policy measures be, in particular an expansion of the programme, in the current