not see convincing evidence that structural reforms are impossible without strong market pressure. moreover, where very strong market pressure does lead to reforms, are we sure that they are the right ones? often we have seen in recent years that, when countries face severe sovereign debt tensions, they prioritise raising taxes rather than cutting unproductive monatsbericht oktober 2015. bis central bankers ’ speeches expenditure and delay structural reforms. those reforms that countries really need to boost their long - term growth – such as improving education or judiciary – do not come about in a crisis environment. they have to come about through societies recognising their deep - rooted challenges and collectively fixing them. but let ’ s imagine for a moment that all this were not the case – that market pressure was essential for structural reforms to happen – should that really be a factor in how the ecb makes its policy? remember that we have been given a narrow mandate in the treaty to deliver euro area price stability, and that narrow mandate is what justifies our independence. nowhere in the treaty does it say that the ecb should set interest rates in such a way as to force policy changes on unwilling governments. for us to do that would be undemocratic and a misuse of the independence we have been given. if anybody is to put pressure on governments to enact structural reforms, it has to be other governments within a democratically - agreed framework. indeed, this is why the ecb has frequently called for stronger european institutions for economic policymaking. the point here is that one cannot expect the ecb to deliver the objectives that rightfully belong to other policymakers. we will meet our price stability mandate, as we are obliged to do in the treaty. but it is up to individual countries to build on that foundation and make their economies work better ; and it is up to the euro area as a whole to strengthen the institutional architecture of our union. only with such a common, comprehensive response can we durably leave this crisis behind, and re - focus on the purpose for which the euro was launched : the unity and prosperity of the peoples of europe. that is no doubt a challenging task. but the cultural days are a reminder what europe is all about and why it is worth standing up for. bis central bankers ’ speeches

each of them has the fiscal instruments at its disposal to accommodate asymmetric cyclical fluctuations or temporary shocks. some reflections on the first three years of the single monetary policy i will devote the rest of my speech to an overview of the ecb's experience in the first three years of the single currency. during this period, the single monetary policy has been challenged by, among other things, fluctuations in economic activity both inside and outside the euro area, by a depreciation of the exchange rate of the euro, and by strong oil and food price rises at various stages. despite this, forecasters and financial markets have remained confident about the ability of the ecb to achieve its primary objective over the medium term. surveys on long - term inflation expectations and inflation expectations as embedded in long - term interest rates have invariably been in line with our objective of price stability. the launch of the euro three years ago and the euro cash changeover this year are two other indisputable achievements of the ecb and its single monetary policy. the changeover was a challenge of unprecedented dimensions and its success went far beyond our own expectations. people in the euro area have been enthusiastic about the currency since the very beginning of the cash changeover. the euro's arrival in 1999 brought about fundamental changes in the way governments, financial institutions and the private sector operate in the financial markets in the euro area and the rest of the world. within the euro area, the elimination of exchange rate risks and the lower transaction costs which followed, together with the much more transparent marketplace the euro has brought with it, have been creating new opportunities for business and driven firms towards higher levels of efficiency and competitiveness. the euro has also acted as a catalyst in the process of financial integration by widening and deepening the euro area financial markets. a large, liquid and integrated money market rapidly came into being after 1 january 1999. this in turn triggered a considerable growth in interest rate instruments denominated in euro. on the unsecured money market, the eonia reference interest rate, which is an interbank overnight rate index collected by the ecb, has established itself as one of the most important, or even the most important, reference rate. the eonia swap market is now considered the largest overnight swap market in the world. also in the bond market, the euro played a crucial role in fostering the deeper and more liquid euro area bond market that we see today. at international level, the euro has become the