jean - claude trichet : interview with corriere della sera interview with mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, conducted by ms marika de feo and published on 28 september 2011. * * * corriere della sera : mr president, are you satisfied with the outcome of the meetings in washington? jean - claude trichet : it is always extremely important for world leaders in the areas of economy and finance to exchange views, compare notes and work out a diagnosis of the situation which is lucid and without any complacency. we are in the fourth year of a very demanding global crisis. the epicentre of the crisis is in europe, but it is a global crisis. on behalf of the ecb ’ s governing council, i called on all european authorities to be up to the very demanding challenges of the times and to demonstrate their sense of direction. and i told our partners in the rest of the world that we needed support and strong encouragement for european affairs, but not public lectures. the g20 pledged on thursday to “ take all necessary actions to preserve the stability of banking systems and financial markets ”. which strong and collective action do you suggest? first, the full, comprehensive and speedy implementation of all decisions already taken individually and collectively in europe and in the world. as regards the europeans, full and swift implementation of the decisions taken on 21 july. second, as has been underlined by the european systemic risk board, coordinated efforts to strengthen bank capital, including recourse to backstop facilities. third, we need to stand ready to respond to new challenges that can arise at any time. permanent and credible alertness is more important than ever in the present circumstances. are governments responsible for the dangerous development of the crisis? i am on record as having stressed, on behalf of the governing council, since the inception of the euro, that fiscal soundness was of the essence, that the stability and growth pact was fundamental in a single currency area without a federal budget, and that the surveillance of competitive indicators by peers was absolutely necessary. all this is clearly documented. now, in the present very demanding circumstances, what counts is that all authorities are up to their responsibilities. now is the time for effective action, implementation, verbal discipline and a stronger team spirit on the part of the european executive branches. european countries were urged to boost the rescue fund ( efsf ) to contain contagion and avoid recession. what do you think

measures are still missing? we would encourage everything that goes in the direction of structural reforms to unleash the capacity of italy to grow faster, to have a better growth potential. the potential of italy is immense, and the present growth potential is not in line with the overall capacity of italy. i think there is a general consensus among economists on this, and everything that goes in the direction of unleashing productive forces is welcome. which other strengths do you see in the potential of the italian economy? one of the major strengths of italy is its entrepreneurial spirit. the capacity of individuals and families to start a business, take risks and be devoted to their enterprises is exceptional. but this entrepreneurial spirit, which is shared by society as a whole, needs to be allowed to develop fully through structural reforms aimed at increasing the flexibility of the economy. bis central bankers ’ speeches what more should be done to increase growth? for instance, reducing protection in non - tradable sectors and monopolies, approving the liberalisation of closed professions, higher pension age, making labour markets more flexible and an overall increase in productivity? a lot of things can be done, in particular but not exclusively the liberalisation of closed professions, improved flexibility of the labour markets, improved education and training, and measures to boost innovation. how do you evaluate the fact that italy is going to have a primary surplus as a percentage of gdp from next year onwards? it is of course something which is important, and maybe not sufficiently well - known by external observers. we encourage italy to follow this path and to do all that is necessary in order to consolidate this primary surplus and reach the goal of having balanced overall public finances in 2013. do you think that this objective can be reached with the measures taken until now? what counts is the goal. the decisions which were taken recently make it possible to advance significantly in the direction of that goal. whether new decisions will have to be taken, taking into account the overall situation and the evolution of the real economy, is an open question. but the goal is the goal ; it has been affirmed, and it is very important. would it have been better to publish the messages you sent to italy? as you know, we have sent messages and we do that on a permanent basis, through various means, addressed to individual governments. we do not make them public. but we are calling for all governments without exception to permanently ensure sound fiscal and macroeconomic policies. we do this every