. there is no lack of spending in the countries that are affected most by the low interest rates. i understand the concerns about the low interest rates, but on the other hand, they are what leads to more investment and higher growth. and we need to take into account precisely which interest rate we are talking about. these pension products invest in government bonds with long maturities. many of the reasons why interest rates on government bonds are low have nothing to do with the ecb. they are low because countries such as the netherlands and germany have become safe havens. prior to the crisis, life insurers invested in bonds issued by all countries, both ‘ core ’ countries and ‘ non - core ’ countries. the interest earned on their investment was thus higher because weaker countries had also been included. the crisis created financial fragmentation in that insurers all used government bonds issued by their own countries to fulfil obligations. that caused insurers in the north to be confronted with low yields. returns in the south were particularly good. once there is renewed confidence in the euro area, the northern countries will no longer be the only safe havens. money will then again flow freely and the recovery of confidence will lead to higher yields in the northern countries. besides that, we have to conduct monetary policy for the whole euro area. we cannot consider only one single point of interest. ” do you have any understanding for the fact that people in the north feel that they are having to pay for the mistakes made by the south? “ i am well aware of this conflict. some months ago, i held a lecture on monetary union in the united states. i said then that there were major imbalances between various euro area countries, large debtor and large creditor countries. i said that it was never a goal of monetary union to create permanent creditors and permanent debtors. that would have to change in order to have a balanced union. an american in the audience responded to this by saying ‘ what you are saying does not hold water because here in the united states, the state of oklahoma has always been a debtor, while new york has always been a creditor, and that is no cause for us to worry. so why should you be worried about it? ’ i think that this touches on the heart of the matter. the debts of us citizens are all treated equally, irrespective of where they come from. ” because the united states is a political union. “ indeed

mario draghi : interview in de telegraaf interview with mario draghi, president of the european central bank, in de telegraaf, published 21 june 2014. * * * when mario draghi took over as president of the european central bank in november 2011, he stepped into the eye of the hurricane. the euro area was confronted with serious problems. after the financial misery in greece, portugal and ireland, larger countries like spain and italy were also threatening to collapse. panic was widespread, both among politicians and among investors. as of his very first day in office as the president of the central bank, the italian had to take crisis measures. the most serious concerns are a thing of the past, but europe is still experiencing economic woes. draghi remains outwardly calm despite the turbulence he has had to deal with. did he ever have doubts about taking on the job? “ no, no, i never hesitated. things happen. ” mario draghi is 66 years old and has a further five and a half years ahead of him in frankfurt. he met the reporters of de telegraaf for an exclusive interview on the 35th floor of the ecb tower. in the near future, he will be moving to gleaming new premises, but at the moment he is still surrounded by what his predecessors jean - claude trichet and wim duisenberg have left him. “ only the books are different – they are mine. ” he is happy to take up the dutch debate on the euro. he doesn ’ t think much of politicians who promise the earth outside the single european currency. “ some people think we should move back in time, thirty or forty years back. i prefer to go forward. ” and that also means to continue to build up monetary union because it has by no means been completed. minister dijsselbloem said recently that the crisis was over. what is your view? “ the recovery has now been ongoing for around nine months. it is still weak and unevenly distributed across the euro area. and it is vulnerable. accidents could happen in the global economy that can quickly change the situation. that might be a disruption on the financial markets, or geopolitical risks. in addition, unemployment has now been stabilising for some six months. very slowly it has been going down. also in crisis countries such as portugal. but the level of unemployment is still very high. that alone poses a risk to the recovery because it leads to lower