back into positive territory. underpinning this change in sign is a pick - up in internal demand, which has added to the progress in net exports. the growth of 0. 3 pp in euro area gdp in the second quarter of 2013 has, naturally, been a positive surprise and plots a favourable course for the spanish economy. but its duration and intensity are by no means assured. indeed, recently revised medium - term forecasts for the euro area as a whole continue to augur very moderate gdp growth rates and overly high unemployment levels. in the financial domain, the degree of market fragmentation is lessening considerably, but is still not fully compatible with the normal functioning of a monetary union and with efficient monetary policy transmission. the cost at which households, credit institutions and the different levels of government can currently finance themselves in the countries subject to most tension is still above what the ecb monetary policy stance would warrant. bis central bankers ’ speeches the ecb has in fact continued to reinforce its expansionary monetary policy stance throughout the year, both through conventional conduct and through non - conventional or extraordinary measures. in may there was a fresh cut in official interest rates which, along with the maintenance of the unlimited liquidity provision policy, is serving to set money market interest rates at extremely low levels. in july the ecb governing council decided to take a further step in its strategy of reinforcing its expansionary monetary policy stance with the use of a new instrument, known in the parlance as “ forward guidance ”. thus, after the may cut in rates, in july the ecb announced that the governing council expected rates to remain at the new level, or at a lower level, for a protracted period. in any event, the contribution monetary policy can make to resolving the problems at the root of the crisis is limited, and can hardly go beyond providing the time needed for other economic policies to bear fruit, policies that do have the wherewithal to curb these problems. for full normalisation of the area to come about, member states must successfully see through the adjustments to their domestic economic policies to adapt them to what a monetary union requires to function. from this perspective, i believe we should assess the progress made towards banking union in europe. in the coming days, the european union council will approve the legislation to underpin the creation of the single supervisory mechanism ( ssm ). that will formally set in train the process that will culminate in the assumption, by the ecb, of

other things, basel ii implementation issues. in addition, the aig has encouraged non - g10 supervisory participation in working groups that are addressing issues related to validation and operational risk. the aig has also engaged in encouraging work with non - g10 supervisors to consider principles for information sharing among home and host supervisors. i believe that this dialogue will, over time, foster greater consistency among committee and non - committee members. the committee is therefore committed to heightening this dialogue and will consider further ways to promote consistency. thank you very much, and i look forward to your questions and comments. 3 / 3