##ence of the economic and monetary union ( emu ) implies also reinforcing our common institutional set - up so as to prevent and manage shocks. i thus welcome the european parliament ’ s role in such discussions and the renewed efforts by euro area leaders and ministers to tackle the issue, as reflected in, for instance, the recent eurogroup meeting. it is in this spirit that i look forward to the upcoming euro summit meeting on emu governance. thank you for your attention. i am at your disposal for questions. 1 excluding ireland, due to the country ’ s exceptionally high gdp growth in 2015 linked to specific activities of multinational enterprises. 2 using composite cost of borrowing indicators. 3 target stands for trans - european automated real - time gross settlement express transfer system. target2 is the second generation of target. 4 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches

francois villeroy de galhau : france – economic developments and reforms, where are we heading? speech by mr francois villeroy de galhau, governor of the bank of france, at the economic club of new york, new york city, 18 april 2018. * * * accompanying slides of this speech. ladies and gentlemen, i am very pleased and honoured to give this speech to the economic club of new york. the theme of my speech is “ economic developments and reforms in france ”. one year ago, you would probably not have suggested it. this shift tells something : france is currently going through exciting times and deserves a close scrutiny. [ slide 1 ]. before addressing the subtitle of my speech “ where are we heading? ” i would like to ask “ where are we starting from? ” as about everywhere among the advanced economies, france experienced a decline in its potential growth from 2 % in the 1990s to about 1. 3 % currently. potential growth could be higher, as in several other advanced countries. an increase would indeed be necessary to face the headwinds of high public debt, ageing and environmental transition, while safeguarding the european social model. if funded, this european social model is a long term economic asset, while bringing more education and more cohesion [ slide 2 ]. there are two other more specific challenges for france. the first one is a persistently high unemployment, which never fell below 7 % since 1983. the second one is high public expenditures, the highest among eu countries in 2016 ( as a share of gdp ). yet, france also enjoys major assets. first, a high investment rate, which has returned to its 2008 peak for private non - residential investment – close to the us level, indeed – and remains above the euro area average for public investment. it also has a wealth of fast - growing innovative firms according to deloitte. [ slide 3 ] second, a high level of hourly productivity, on a par with germany and the united states, but with a more dynamic working - age population than in the rest of europe, which will support potential growth in the medium term. [ slide 4 ] that ’ s where we are starting from. i would like to underline that we are enjoying a favourable momentum, which offers a window of opportunity for reform. this opportunity is indeed being seized to implement ambitious and consistent reforms, so yes, france is heading in the right direction and at a fast pace. [ slide 5 ]