mario draghi : hearing at the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the european parliament introductory statement by mr mario draghi, president of the european central bank, before the hearing at the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the european parliament, brussels, 12 november 2015. * * * mr chairman, honourable members of the economic and monetary affairs committee, ladies and gentlemen, i am pleased to be back again with this committee for the last hearing of 2015. the ecb ’ s accountability to you, the european parliament, is a central counterpart to the ecb ’ s independence. and transparency is a precondition for your holding us to account. as you are aware, following a public access request, last week we released the diaries of all members of the ecb ’ s executive board ‒ including my own ‒ for the period from august 2014 to end - july 2015. but we will not stop there. starting next february, we will publish these diaries on a monthly basis. it is only natural that some of you will raise questions with regard to the meetings my colleagues and i have had ; after all, the whole point of publishing the diaries is to give the public and you a better understanding of with whom we are interacting. but let me be very clear : whatever the date, we have had and still have a clear rule – we do not discuss marketsensitive information in non - public meetings. for our monetary policy to be effective, however, it is important to meet market participants and to also hear their views. for the remainder of my remarks, i will mainly talk about two issues : first, our current economic outlook and the upcoming reassessment of it at our december meeting ; and second, as requested by econ coordinators, the macroeconomic adjustment programmes over the last half - decade and the ecb ’ s role in them. economic developments and monetary policy incoming data confirm that the recovery in the euro area is progressing moderately. so far, economic activity in the euro area has shown some degree of resilience in the face of external influences that tend to weaken demand. while external demand has receded, euro area exports market shares have increased. the lower cost of energy and our monetary policy measures are supporting consumption and, increasingly, new capital formation. however, downside risks stemming from global growth and trade are clearly visible. moreover, inflation dynamics have somewhat weakened, mainly due to lower oil prices and the delayed effects of the stronger euro exchange rate seen earlier in the year

stimulus, whereas europe has not. the united states is less restricted, fiscallyspeaking, and enjoys the privilege of the us dollar ’ s international position. the us was also able to restore the health of its financial sector at an earlier stage following the crisis. however, the eu is still the most powerful economic and trading area in the world, with enormous potential. it has also shown that it was able to recover from the crisis and create new employment after two recessions, particularly thanks to the measures taken by the ecb. a concerted fiscal stimulus at the euro area level would help speed up growth, which at 1. 1 % in 2020 and 1. 4 % in 2021 ( according to our latest projections ) remains below our potential, at least for 2020. what do you mean when you refer to a “ new policy mix ” for europe? it makes sense to use all of the tools at our disposal when it comes to increasing growth, which will also result in inflation moving towards levels close to 2 %. there are three elements to this policy mix : monetary policy, which has continuously been used to maintain price stability ; fiscal 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches policy, which should be used more often in order to support monetary policy in member states where possible ; and structural reforms to increase the growth potential within our economies. greater cooperation between competent authorities, without infringing on the independence of their roles, would make it possible to optimise the multiplier effects of their decisions. the ecb ’ s policy is pushing economic operators into debt. french public debt is now in excess of 100 % of gdp. should we be worried? although public debt is decreasing within the euro area, in france, it is increasing. this is a cause for concern, since it does reduce the room for fiscal manoeuvre in the event of a downturn in the economy. france needs to take steps to reduce its deficit and debt, while adopting a growth - friendly fiscal policy. other countries have managed to achieve this difficult task. i am confident that the french government will also be able to do so, particularly through structural reforms. in your role as managing director of the imf, you were often critical of germany ’ s surpluses. to what extent has this changed? primarily in terms of current account surpluses – but not just with regard to germany. such high surpluses in relation to gdp result in imbalances, particularly where a single currency is concerned.