christian noyer : where are we 11 months before e - day? speech delivered by christian noyer, vice - president of the european central bank, on the occasion of the forum " tremplin pour l'euro " in courchevel, france, on 2 february 2001 * * * ladies and gentlemen, just over two years ago, the european union adopted its own single currency. less than 11 months from today, we will be paying with euro banknotes and coins in our everyday transactions. by many measures, this development could justifiably be considered an achievement of historic proportions. with the arrival of euro banknotes and coins, the process of introducing a single european currency initiated in maastricht in 1991 will finally be complete. today, the minds of european central bankers, the banking community and many other interested parties are certainly focused on the immense organisational and logistical task entailed by the cash changeover. allow me nevertheless to briefly reflect on some of the developments that the euro has already triggered. first of all, the irrevocable fixing of exchange rates between the participating currencies and the introduction of the euro on 1 january 1999 can rightly be considered as the " crowning " of the single market. the euro is indeed " one money for one market ", as the studies supporting the original delors report succinctly put it. the euro has undoubtedly become an important catalyst in promoting the further integration of product and capital markets of euro area economies. more importantly, the policy - makers in the member states have realised that being part of a monetary union will not only produce substantial economic benefits. it also imposes certain constraints on their own policies. rigidities in labour and product markets, inappropriate fiscal policies and fragmented regulatory frameworks all have a negative impact on the economic conditions, proper functioning and growth potential of the euro area as a whole. tackling these challenges has become a clear political priority over the last few years. the ecb's success in maintaining price stability has certainly provided - and continues to provide - a crucial foundation for these efforts, by stabilising inflation expectations and instilling a " stability consensus " across europe. in this sense, the euro is one factor which is continuing to push euro area economies towards more balanced budgets and greater competitiveness. another important aspect of the transformation of the european economy that has been stimulated by the advent of the single currency is the increasing financial integration within the euro area. indeed, from

peter praet : europe ’ s economic recovery and implications for monetary policy remarks by mr peter praet, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the international conference of commercial bank economists ( iccbe ) in france, paris, 6 july 2017. * * * since june 2014, the ecb has introduced a range of unconventional measures, alongside our conventional ones, in pursuit of its price stability objective. together, these measures have proved to be extremely effective in preventing a period of disinflation from spiralling into one of deflation. nearly three years on, the risks of deflation have vanished and the transmission of our policy measures to the real economy is clearly evidenced by the recovery, which has gathered some further momentum recently. before turning to price developments and monetary policy, let me say a bit more about the latest economic developments in the euro area. the solid upswing continues to broaden across sectors and countries. real gdp in the euro area has expanded for 16 consecutive quarters, growing by 1. 9 % year - on - year during the first quarter of 2017, according to eurostat. this compares with the latest potential growth estimates for the euro area of just over 1 %. 1 moreover, recent survey data point to a strong start to the second quarter. for example, the composite output purchasing managers ’ index – which is strongly correlated with growth in the euro area – remains close to six - year highs in june. the forward - looking components of the survey continue to point to growth in the quarters ahead. moreover, economic sentiment is at its highest level in nearly a decade and has increased notably from may to june 2017. 2 unemployment is at its lowest level in eight years. looking ahead, the latest eurosystem staff macroeconomic projections point to a continued economic expansion at a somewhat faster pace than previously expected. the breadth of the economic recovery is also notable. the dispersion of growth rates across both countries and sectors is at its lowest level in two decades, reflecting a convergence of growth rates around higher levels. this is reassuring for the growth outlook because recoveries tend to be firmer and more robust when they are broad - based. it ’ s a similar picture for employment, with dispersion of employment growth rates across euro area countries at its lowest level on record. the increasingly solid cyclical recovery reflects the success of our monetary policy measures, which have worked their way through the financial system and led to a significant easing of financing conditions for consumers