luis de guindos : interview with telediario 2, television espanola interview with mr luis de guindos, vice - president of the european central bank, and telediario 2, television espanola, conducted by mr carlos franganillo on 19 march 2020. * * * one way or another, this massive asset purchase programme will be of particular help to those countries that have been deeply affected, such as spain or italy, to ensure that spreads don ’ t widen dramatically at this critical time. it will help all euro area countries. some were in a weaker position ; their public finances were also more vulnerable than others. but what the ecb will not allow is fragmentation of any kind in the sovereign debt markets and a return to the nightmare caused by widened spreads. we are dealing with a huge health crisis, there is a severe economic crisis and we are going to ensure that it does not result in some kind of financial crisis or debt crisis. this is what we are going to avoid because the ecb is at the service of the european people. the european central bank has said that it will do whatever needs to be done to combat this crisis. does the ecb have more weapons at its disposal for the weeks or months ahead if the situation deteriorates? we can always do more. as you mentioned earlier in your news item, our commitment knows no limits. we will do whatever is necessary to ensure that this pandemic, which is having a massive economic impact, does not turn into a debt crisis or a crisis of the financial system. we will not allow this to happen. we are dealing with a situation which requires us to act with extreme intensity. you have said that the measures taken by the spanish government and other european governments are appropriate. but you have also hinted recently that the european union has perhaps not responded quite as effectively. are you afraid that a crisis of this kind could take its toll on the european project? let ’ s hope not. the ecb has already acted. basically what remains is for member states also to act and continue to act through their fiscal policies. and we need a pan - european response. we need a coordinated eu fiscal policy response. i am sure that this is what will happen in the end. the ecb cannot be the only policy tool used from an economic standpoint. monetary policy cannot be the only instrument employed. i am certain that member states will do something about this and they will adopt a

otmar issing : the euro - a stable currency for europe speech by professor otmar issing, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at euromoney institutional investor plc, london, 21 february 2001. * * * introduction slightly more than two years ago the european central bank ( ecb ) assumed responsibility for the second largest economic area in the world after the united states. the euro is now the currency for 300 million people. the transfer of monetary policy competence from 11 national central banks, many of them characterised by a long history and impressive monetary policy results, was met with a great deal of scepticism. all the more so, because the asymmetry between a self - contained central bank and - in the meantime 12 - national governments brought with it an historically unique situation. the single monetary policy has not experienced any significant accident so far in its short life : the transition to the single currency has been quite smooth and the governing council of the ecb was successful in fulfilling its mandate, namely in maintaining price stability in the euro area over the medium term. clearly, we are not satisfied with hicp inflation above 2 %, as we have seen since the middle of last year. however, we have announced before we started to conduct our monetary policy that the ecb could not precisely control inflation in the short - term and would not try to as, for example, in the case of an oil price shock. but we have good reasons to expect that, if nothing comparable happens again, hicp inflation in the euro area will fall back to below 2 % in the course of this year. you may ask why i am so confident about this. there are three main reasons. first, the institutional set - up on which the ecb and the euro have been built is very sound. second, the governing council of the ecb managed to set up an efficient framework both as regards the monetary policy strategy as well as monetary policy instruments. finally, monetary policy in the last two years has rightly been perceived by most observers as having been appropriate to maintain price stability in the medium term. all this is reflected in a high degree of credibility of the ecb, as evidenced by low inflation expectations. the institutional design let me start with the institutional design. the treaty establishing the european community - which i will refer to as the " treaty " - and the mandate of the ecb provide a sound basis both for an effective monetary policy and for the establishment and development of