that appears to be extremely far removed from citizens. you ’ re criticised for being essentially responsible for a form of “ democratic hold - up ”, an expression used by journalist jean quatremer : you ’ re taking away budgetary sovereignty ; the euro area is described as being under german sovereignty ; you ’ ve invested absolutely huge sums in saving banks and the financial system, but it ’ s european people who have paid the price, with taxes, strict policies, the list is endless. what would you say in defence of your institution, mr cœure? i ’ ve read jean quatremer ’ s book, “ il faut achever l ’ euro ”. now, when he speaks of the “ democratic hold - up ” he ’ s not talking about the ecb, but about european institutions and the way the euro functions in general. and it ’ s true, i agree with him : there ’ s a democratic deficit in the way the euro area functions. look at the discussion with greece. extremely painful measures have been discussed for the greek economy, for the greek people, and this discussion was between the greek minister and the other 18 finance ministers – it never went to the european parliament. so there is a problem. but it ’ s not the ecb. 3 / 8 bis central bankers'speeches ok, but the ecb formulates monetary policy that does not depend on governments or citizens, but considerably influences the economic policies and day - to - day lives of european citizens... that ’ s true, but what allows the ecb to be independent is its very narrow, very clear, very simple and very precise mandate, which is to bring the inflation rate back towards 2 %. this is how we are judged. and we are accountable to the european parliament. we go everywhere – i visit high schools, go to conferences, i discuss with people. we are on twitter, we ’ re in dialogue with european citizens... and with france inter! and with france inter, which is important as it allows me to explain all of these things. yes, we are bureaucrats in frankfurt, but this independence is possible... and technocrats!... and technocrats... this independence is possible because we have a very narrow mandate which can be monitored. the rest of the system is political, and requires democratic accountability. you ’ re a left - winger, mr cœure, but despite that you won ’ t get

benefit from the impact of the ecb ’ s monetary policy measures and the low opportunity cost of holding the most liquid deposits. the narrow monetary aggregate m1 remained the main contributor to broad money growth. the recovery in the growth of loans to the private sector observed since the beginning of 2014 is proceeding. the annual growth rate of loans to non - financial corporations rose to 4. 1 % in june 2018, after 3. 7 % in the previous month, while the annual growth rate of loans to households remained unchanged at 2. 9 %. the euro area bank lending survey for the second quarter of 2018 indicates that loan growth continues to be supported by easing credit standards and increasing demand across all loan categories. the pass - through of the monetary policy measures put in place since june 2014 continues to significantly support borrowing conditions for firms and households, access to financing – in particular for small and medium - sized enterprises – and credit flows across the euro area. to sum up, a cross - check of the outcome of the economic analysis with the signals coming from the monetary analysis confirmed that an ample degree of monetary accommodation is still necessary for the continued sustained convergence of inflation to levels that are below, but close to, 2 % over the medium term. in order to reap the full benefits from our monetary policy measures, other policy areas must contribute more decisively to raising the longer - term growth potential and reducing vulnerabilities. the implementation of structural reforms in euro area countries needs to be substantially stepped up to increase resilience, reduce structural unemployment and boost euro area productivity and growth potential. regarding fiscal policies, the ongoing broad - based expansion calls for rebuilding fiscal buffers. this is particularly important in countries where government debt remains high. all countries would benefit from intensifying efforts towards achieving a more growth - friendly composition of public finances. a full, transparent and consistent implementation of the stability and growth pact and of the macroeconomic imbalance procedure over time and across countries remains essential to increase the resilience of the euro area economy. improving the functioning of economic and monetary union remains a priority. the governing council urges specific and decisive steps to complete the banking union and the capital markets union. we are now at your disposal for questions. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches