in case of a downturn. however, the ccyb has only been activated by seven of the 19 euro area countries and currently represents, in the aggregate, only 0. 1 % of risk - weighted assets a lack of releasable buffers curbs the countercyclical role of macroprudential authorities. when breaching their combined buffer requirements, banks may uphold capital ratios by disposing assets to avoid the automatic restrictions on dividend distributions. if such behaviour becomes widespread in the event of systemic stress, it can result in a credit crunch, which would aggravate the downturn. this is exactly what we observed in previous crisis episodes, and what we should avoid in the future. macroprudential space in the form of releasable buffers could serve as a potential macro - financial stabilisation in euro area countries. the release of the buffers in a downturn should help banks to sustain the flow of credit. to this end, releasable buffers would first need to be available. in sum, we are in a situation where the overall level of capital requirements is broadly adequate, but the composition may not be optimal. it is therefore important to have a discussion on the need to reallocate capital requirements towards releasable buffers in a capital - neutral manner. other national authorities have had – or are having – similar discussions, such as in the united kingdom and in the united states. to me, such a reallocation appears to make sense in the current environment of heightened uncertainty and risks tilted to the downside. with a reallocation of buffers, cyclical systemic risk factors – common to the entire banking sector – would be covered appropriately by the ccyb. in turn, remaining idiosyncratic bank - specific risks will continue to be covered by microprudential requirements. the reallocation would be capital - neutral because the resulting increase in the ccyb would be offset by a corresponding decrease in other capital requirements, for example in pillar 2, as done by the bank of england. the capital - neutral creation of releasable buffers does not require a regulatory change. indeed, the ccyb is already enshrined in eu law and transposed in the national context. it is used to address cyclical systemic risks that are common to the entire banking sector. to ensure that all relevant risks in the banking sector continue to be appropriately covered calls for continued close cooperation among all relevant

benoit cœure : interview in corriere della sera interview with mr benoit cœure, member of the executive board of the european central bank, in corriere della sera, conducted by mr danilo taino on 7 march 2019 and published on 11 march 2019. * * * at its meeting on thursday, 7 march, the ecb decided to add to the monetary stimulus already in place. what happened? did the extent of the economic slowdown in the euro area take you by surprise? the slowdown didn ’ t come as a surprise. economic activity was exceptionally strong in 2017, thanks to global economic conditions. we knew that euro area growth would adjust towards its potential rate. the slowdown has been stronger than expected and started sooner, which motivated the decisions we took. but those decisions don ’ t represent a turnaround in our policy ; they have been carefully calibrated to this diagnosis. we are adjusting to the new reality rather than reversing our course ; we don ’ t see signs of a recession at present. the ecb staff projections have been revised. they previously envisaged that growth would be consistently above potential, which would have pushed inflation towards our objective of lower but close to 2 %, whereas they now foresee that actual output will be initially equal to or below potential output, which means it will take longer for inflation to reach 2 %. in the event of external shocks, could the ecb go back to buying bonds on the market? we don ’ t see the need. we are still seeing robust economic growth, although it ’ s less strong than before. it will take longer for inflation to reach our objective, but it will get there. we are reacting to the developments we have seen so far, so we will keep rates at zero for longer, we will continue to reinvest payments from maturing securities in our portfolio, and we will grant banks liquidity at favourable conditions provided that they finance the real economy. if you ’ re asking me about another asset purchase programme, all i will say is that this instrument is now part of our toolbox, but it is not needed now. do you think that european governments are pursuing appropriate fiscal policies under the circumstances? it ’ s difficult for a central banker to give detailed advice on fiscal policy, since fiscal policy is a matter for democratically elected governments. what i can say generally is that the current fiscal stance in the euro area as a whole is slightly expansionary and supports