jean - claude trichet : presentation of the ecb ’ s annual report 2005 to the european parliament introductory statement by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, to the european parliament, strasbourg, 26 october 2006. * * * monsieur le president, mesdames et messieurs les deputes, c ’ est pour moi un grand honneur et un grand plaisir de m ’ exprimer aujourd ’ hui devant vous. je suis ici pour presenter au parlement europeen, comme le prevoit le traite, le rapport annuel 2005 de la bce. mais comme vous le savez, les relations entre le parlement et la bce vont au - dela des obligations specifiques qui sont imposees par le traite. de fait, nous avons etabli, au fil des annees, un dialogue tres etroit qui – je tiens a le souligner – s ’ est intensifie au cours de cette annee. ce mois - ci, c ’ est la troisieme fois que j ’ interviens devant vous. de meme, mes collegues au sein du directoire de la bce ont ete en contact etroit avec le parlement europeen concernant diverses questions, telles que la reforme du fmi, les systemes de paiement et les systemes de compensation et de reglement. pour notre part, nous attachons la plus grande importance aux contacts portant sur ces questions. ich werde ihnen zunachst einen kurzen uberblick uber die wirtschaftlichen und geldpolitischen entwicklungen im jahr 2005 geben und die geldpolitischen maßnahmen der ezb erlautern. danach mochte ich einige anmerkungen zu punkten und vorschlagen machen, die sie in ihrem entwurf einer entschließung zum jahresbericht 2005 der ezb vorgebracht haben. economic and monetary issues let me first of all welcome the assessment of the economic and monetary affairs committee as regards the ecb ’ s monetary policy in 2005 and beyond.

background, the ecb will definitely follow - up on your request for further analysis. i do not exclude that we will conclude that there is a real case for enhancing the present framework which relies essentially on the vigilance of the financial institutions that are themselves under supervision as regards their counterparty risks on the hedge funds. but i also note that any such enhancement should be agreed upon at the level of the international community and, in particular, on the basis of an appropriate transatlantic discussion. as regards payment and settlement issues, let me first thank the european parliament for the support expressed for the implementation by november 2007 of the target2 system. being an integrated large - value payment system, target2 will provide for efficiency gains and improved liquidity management by banks. in this regard, i should like to refer to an increased pressure to also have an integrated platform for the settlement of securities transactions in euro. the eurosystem is therefore currently examining, in co - ordination with the european commission and in close co - operation with the market, the feasibility of setting up a eurosystem infrastructure for the provision of securities settlement services in central bank money. a decision on whether to offer such a service, referred to as “ target2 - securities ”, is expected in early 2007. in the field of retail payments, we strongly support the efforts to establish a single euro payment area ( sepa ). we welcome the eu commission ’ s initiative for a directive on payment services and i warmly welcome european parliament ’ s contribution to a swift adoption of this directive to assist the banking industry in their implementation of sepa payment instruments as from 1 january 2008. i thank you very much for your attention. i am now available to answer your questions.