accountable to the european parliament, and it is becoming more and more transparent. it nowadays also explains its actions to national parliaments. we have also increased transparency regarding our decisions by publishing the minutes of monetary policy meetings. one day, i am sure, we will publish how the different members of the governing council vote. we have already come a long way in this regard, and we will continue to follow this path. will the ecb save the euro? the euro is no longer in danger in the way that it could have been three years ago. but your question is revealing – it shows that society ’ s expectations of central banks are still excessive. in one respect, the fact that the ecb is independent of political constraints means that everyone pins their ( unrealistic ) hopes on it in terms of economic policy. but this is unreasonable! if too much is asked of central banks, they will become beholden to vested interests and less effective, losing their legitimacy in the process. but isn ’ t this evolution of the role of central banks irreversible? the best response is to show that we can consolidate growth without relying on monetary policy. this is the biggest issue for the coming months and years. to fulfil their goals in an extraordinary economic environment, central bankers have had to take no less extraordinary decisions that have placed them centre stage. as soon as stability returns, i have no doubt that they will return to their ploughs, like cincinnatus in roman times. are you a candidate for the position of governor of the banque de france? this is a decision for the french president alone. the banque de france is the ecb ’ s second - largest shareholder. it is a magnificent institution that should continue to make its voice heard in the euro area and in global financial debates. bis central bankers ’ speeches

governments, not the ecb, to make decisions in this regard. could the ecb make some kind of gesture? the ecb ’ s claims on greece stem not from loans that have been granted to the country, but from bonds purchased in the capital markets at the height of the crisis to improve the transmission of our monetary policy decisions. we are not allowed to restructure them, as the treaties prohibit us from providing financial assistance to states. the negotiations between greece and its creditors seem to be a dialogue of the deaf … the goal is to strike a balance between the programme of a newly elected government that has strong democratic legitimacy and the interests of the other euro area countries, which are also democracies. the issue is not just the reforms that are necessary for greece, but also the fact that these reforms are financed by taxpayers in other countries, who have also been affected by the crisis. bis central bankers ’ speeches would a greek exit from the euro area trigger the demise of the single currency? the ecb, i reiterate, wants greece to remain in the euro area. if, one day, a country were to leave the euro area, that would be a serious warning sign for europe, because the question would inevitably arise as to whether such a scenario could be repeated. but the answer to this question is widely known – it seems to me that there is a broad consensus concerning the conditions that enable each country to benefit from the advantages of the euro on a lasting basis. these conditions include accountability before, and solidarity towards, peers. these common values should be reflected in national and european institutions. incidentally, the countries that have committed themselves to these values have successfully overcome the crisis ( notably spain and ireland ). so i am not at all worried about the cohesion of the euro area. but if a country were to decide to depart from this consensus, that would undoubtedly oblige the other countries to unequivocally consolidate their commitment to the values i just mentioned by accelerating the process of strengthening the euro area. this would entail the acceleration of a process of institutional reflection which is currently a longterm endeavour. is the imf being too demanding? the imf has a different mandate and different shareholders from the european institutions. it works on behalf of 188 countries, most of which are not in the euro area and have a standard of living lower than that of greece. so the imf has concerns regarding equal treatment that i think are entirely legitimate. 4