area what the rationale for the historic process of establishing a highly integrated european union is. all in all, that process has proceeded remarkably successfully for more than half a century now. zeit : so, what is its rationale? trichet : european integration is essential for ensuring the peace, stability and prosperity of the nations of europe. all of the reasons we had to engage in this historic endeavour after the second world war are still valid. the balance of power is shifting at the global level. new powers are on the rise in asia, latin america and africa. we are experiencing a very rapidly changing new world with a lot of opportunities, challenges, risks and uncertainties. european unity is more important than ever. zeit : what role does germany play in that? trichet : germany played a decisive role in the establishment of the treaty of rome in 1958, the single european act in 1986 and, in particular, monetary union. germany has also bis central bankers ’ speeches succeeded remarkably well in regaining its competitiveness over the last ten years. your country is now reaping the rewards of its patient efforts, and the euro area is benefiting from this. a strong german economy is good for europe. zeit : in germany, of all places, eurosceptic voices are now being heard. are the germans even ready for europe? trichet : i travel a lot in germany, and my impression is that while the initial reaction may be sceptical, deeper down everybody is aware of the importance of our historic project, aware of the importance of close cooperation and friendship between the nations of europe. i believe people know that there is no other way of achieving peace, prosperity and stability. zeit : even germans are feeling anxious – they have the impression that monetary union is no longer what they were promised. rules were broken. people are apprehensive that the euro will become a soft currency. trichet : there are many ways of seeing things in a democracy. concerns like these were voiced even when i was involved in negotiating the treaty of maastricht with theo waigel, the minister of finance, horst kohler, staatssekretar, and the other members of the german delegation. but the facts are much more important. for instance, it was unfortunately germany and france which weakened the stability and growth pact in 2004 and 2005. it ’ s also a fact that price stability is greater today than during the period of the deutsche mark. the average

mario draghi : ecb press conference - introductory statement introductory statement by mr mario draghi, president of the european central bank, and mr vitor constancio, vice - president of the european central bank, frankfurt am main, 20 october 2016. * * * ladies and gentlemen, the vice - president and i are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference. we will now report on the outcome of today ’ s meeting of the governing council. based on our regular economic and monetary analyses, we decided to keep the key ecb interest rates unchanged. we continue to expect them to remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of our net asset purchases. regarding non - standard monetary policy measures, we confirm that the monthly asset purchases of €80 billion are intended to run until the end of march 2017, or beyond, if necessary, and in any case until the governing council sees a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation consistent with its inflation aim. the information that has become available since our meeting in early september confirms a continued moderate but steady recovery of the euro area economy and a gradual rise in inflation, in line with our previous expectations. the euro area economy has continued to show resilience to the adverse effects of global economic and political uncertainty, aided by our comprehensive monetary policy measures, which ensure very favourable financing conditions for firms and households. overall, however, the baseline scenario remains subject to downside risks. looking ahead, we remain committed to preserving the very substantial degree of monetary accommodation which is necessary to secure a sustained convergence of inflation towards levels below, but close to, 2 % over the medium term. to that end, we will continue to act, if warranted, by using all the instruments available within our mandate. in december the governing council ’ s assessment will benefit from the new staff macroeconomic projections extending through to 2019 and from the work of the eurosystem committees on the options to ensure the smooth implementation of our purchase programme until march 2017, or beyond, if necessary. let me now explain our assessment in greater detail, starting with the economic analysis. real gdp in the euro area increased by 0. 3 %, quarter on quarter, in the second quarter of 2016, after 0. 5 % in the first quarter. the latest data and survey results point to continued growth in the third quarter of 2016, at around the same pace as in the second quarter. looking further ahead, we expect the economic expansion to