' m speaking of both sides of the atlantic, and both sides of the channel – which is the size of the balance sheet of the central bank. this is explained by the fact that we are supplying liquidity on an unlimited basis and that we have allowed collateral in a way which is more forthcoming. and this is true for all central banks. but for us, our weekly balance sheet in comparison with that of one year ago has increased by around 55 % [ from around 1. 3 trillion to 2 trillion euro ]. of course, this increase does not imply an increase in net liquidity, because a significant part of the liquidity we provide comes back in the central bank through the deposit facility. ft : that ’ s less than the fed. trichet : yes, true. for the ecb part of it comes also from the fact that we have the counterparts of the dollar that we are supplying ourselves, and a counterpart of the dollar is our own collateral. the central banks are in a situation where they are playing a much more quantitative role than they used to play, and it is true for all of us. ft : should there be more centralised supervision within the eurozone, and should the ecb take responsibility? is the ecb willing to take that responsibility if the politicians so desire? trichet : as you know, we have always been in favour of a very close relationship between the central bank and the banking surveillance authorities. we said that long, long before any new problems, any new difficulties. we had a governing council position close to the start of the ecb, which we made public. so on that point, there is no ambiguity at all. we are also strongly thinking that better coordination for big cross - border institutions is absolutely necessary ; even if we could cope with all the issues at stake in the present circumstances, we should not forget that. it's clear that we can improve the present framework and we have to improve it. some avenues have already been suggested by ecofin. there has already been a consensus on appropriate memoranda of understanding. but going further in this direction also seems important. at this stage, i have to say, i do not have a full - fledged governing council position. we are still reflecting, and we will see what will be the position of the governing council. but i understand that the european parliament has carried out several works which have been done within the suggestion that the ecb would play a particular role in this domain

european central bank : press conference – introductory statement introductory statement by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, and mr vitor constancio, vice - president of the european central bank, frankfurt am main, 2 december 2010. * * * ladies and gentlemen, the vice - president and i are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference. we will now report on the outcome of today ’ s meeting. based on its regular economic and monetary analyses, the governing council confirmed that the current key ecb interest rates are appropriate. it therefore decided to leave them unchanged. taking into account all the new information and analyses which have become available since our meeting on 4 november 2010, we continue to expect price developments to remain moderate over the policy - relevant medium - term horizon. recent economic data are consistent with a positive underlying momentum of the recovery, while uncertainty is elevated. our monetary analysis confirms that inflationary pressures over the medium term remain contained. we expect price stability to be maintained over the medium term, thereby supporting the purchasing power of euro area households. inflation expectations are firmly anchored in line with our aim of keeping inflation rates below, but close to, 2 % over the medium term. the firm anchoring of inflation expectations is of the essence. the governing council today also decided to continue conducting its main refinancing operations ( mros ) and the special - term refinancing operations with a maturity of one maintenance period as fixed rate tender procedures with full allotment for as long as necessary, and at least until the end of the third maintenance period of 2011 on 12 april 2011. furthermore, the governing council decided to conduct the three - month longer - term refinancing operations ( ltros ) to be allotted on 26 january, 23 february and 30 march 2011 as fixed rate tender procedures with full allotment. the rates in these three - month operations will be fixed at the average rate of the mros over the life of the respective ltro. overall, the current monetary policy stance remains accommodative. the stance, the provision of liquidity and the allotment modes will be adjusted as appropriate, taking into account the fact that all the non - standard measures taken during the period of acute financial market tensions are, by construction, temporary in nature. accordingly, the governing council will continue to monitor all developments over the period ahead very closely. let me now explain our assessment in greater detail, starting with the economic analysis.