jean - claude trichet : testimony before the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the european parliament introductory statement by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, brussels, 14 march 2005. * * * madame la presidente, mesdames et messieurs les membres de la commission economique et monetaire, j ’ ai l ’ honneur de paraitre devant votre commission aujourd ’ hui dans le cadre de notre dialogue regulier. comme vous le savez, j ’ attache beaucoup d ’ importance a nos rencontres trimestrielles qui permettent a la banque centrale europeenne d ’ expliquer ses decisions et de repondre a toutes les questions que se posent les parlementaires. mes collegues et moi - meme considerons ces rencontres frequentes comme essentielles au bon fonctionnement de l ’ union economique et monetaire. ich mochte meine ausfuhrungen mit einer beurteilung der aktuellen wirtschaftlichen und monetaren entwicklung beginnen. sodann werde ich zu fiskalpolitischen und strukturpolitischen fragen stellung nehmen. abschließend mochte ich ihnen einige uberlegungen hinsichtlich der folgeaktivitaten zum eu aktionsplan fur finanzdienstleistungen vorstellen. economic and monetary developments after the positive developments in the first half of 2004, only modest growth rates of economic activity were observed in the second half. real gdp in the euro area is estimated to have grown at a quarter - on - quarter rate of 0. 2 % in both the third and fourth quarter. taking the year as a whole, real gdp growth – on a working - day adjusted basis – was + 1. 8 % in 2004, marking a significant improvement from the 0. 5 % seen in 2003. the composition of demand growth in the fourth quarter offered some positive signs with regard to the outlook for economic activity. in the coming quarters consumption growth could benefit from anticipated developments in real disposable income. investment is expected to continue to benefit from very favourable financing conditions, robust earnings and greater business efficiency.

completed. at the same time, integration in retail markets is not yet sufficiently advanced. as regards the post - fsap strategy, although the ecb is still in the process of formulating its views on the matter, we have already identified at least three important elements. first, the focus should be on the effective and consistent implementation of the fsap at the national level. new legislative initiatives at the community level should be kept to a minimum and only introduced if strictly necessary. in this respect, the implementation of the lamfalussy framework represents a unique opportunity to achieve a consistent regulatory and supervisory framework for financial services. indeed, the experience so far gained with the implementation of the framework in the securities field is broadly positive. it should be recognised, however, that there is still scope for improvement, for instance with regard to striking the right balance between the two levels of community legislation ( core principles and technical details ). second, the policies relating to the regulatory and supervisory framework should be complemented by and closely coordinated with other relevant policies for financial services, for instance competition policy. third, incentives should be provided for the private sector to play its role in exploiting the opportunities offered by public action. where appropriate, mechanisms should be provided to facilitate coordinated approaches among market participants. moreover, the eurosystem has requested that a single euro payments area ( sepa ) be created for the euro area from 1 january 2008, meaning that citizens and enterprises could make payments throughout the euro area from a single bank account, using a single set of payment instruments, as easily and safely as in the national context today. in addition, national infrastructures should migrate to a pan - european payments infrastructure by the end of 2010. we appreciate the commission ’ s support for the sepa project. the ecb is also in a regular dialogue with the banking industry to seek market participants ’ support for these objectives. i am now ready to answer your questions.