that ’ s why everyone has been taking money into germany to buy safe german government bonds. that ’ s why the interest rates in germany have fallen. we take the concerns of savers very seriously. but how can we respond? we run monetary policy for the entire euro area, not for a single country. if we are able to dispel the uncertainty, many investors will again take their money out of germany and back to their home countries and interest rates will rise again. spiegel : people can see in the statements from their life insurance companies that they are getting ever smaller payouts from year to year because of the interest rates. the truth is that savers are paying the price for rescuing the euro. draghi : i am sure that the insurance companies do not refer to the key policy rate when they send their statements. we can only control that rate. long - term interest rates are determined largely by global financial markets. if the fed decides to buy us treasury bonds worth usd 1 trillion a year, then that affects interest rates worldwide. spiegel : the fed has now announced to reduce the purchases of government bonds. what does that mean for the euro area and the euro? draghi : so far markets have shown that the announcement by the fomc has not affected the euro area markets. their resilience is greater than a year ago. spiegel : that does not help the savers much. currently, you get about 0. 8 % interest per year on a savings account in germany, while the inflation rate is 1. 3 %. do you think that is a normal and healthy development? draghi : normal and healthy it is not. the real interest rate should be positive under normal conditions. today in some countries it is negative, in others it is positive and even too high. we are very aware of the risks such fragmentation entails. spiegel : which risks do you mean? draghi : first, the stability of the financial system is at risk if interest rates are too low for too long. until now, however, we have only seen significant price increases in some specific and limited markets, for example, in some real estate markets in europe. the second serious risk is that inflation, which is already clearly below our 2 % target, might fall further. yet we aren ’ t seeing any deflation, i. e. a general fall in prices. but we must be very careful that we do not permanently fall below 1 %

: to find that out, we will be closely examining the balance sheets of banks in the coming year. no conclusive judgement can be reached prior to that. but the banking system is now in a much better position than four years ago. since then, around €0. 5 trillion of fresh capital has flowed into the euro area banks and many institutions have changed their business models. what is also certain is that almost all banks have been operating much more profitably and with lower costs. spiegel : you paint a very positive picture of the euro area, but many german policymakers remain very critical of ecb policy. how much longer can the conflict between you and bundesbank president jens weidmann go on? draghi : i would rather speak of convergence than of conflict. our positions have clearly moved closer to each other and cooperation has improved. take the recent interest rate reduction, bundesbank president jens weidmann initially had some reservations, but then he said that this step was justified. i have often said that i have great respect for the bundesbank as an institution and for what it means to the germans. bis central bankers ’ speeches spiegel : that sounds rather like christmas harmony. some economists in germany speak of the “ club med ” when they talk about the majority of southern europeans in the governing council and accuse you of copying the inflation policy of the bank of italy in the 1970s. draghi : there are only a few who are insinuating that i am helping italy because i ’ m italian. this doesn ’ t affect me. i have proved often enough that i adhere strictly to the mandate of the central bank and run a policy for the entire euro area. this is also true of my colleagues in the governing council. no one there thinks in nationalist categories ; that applies more to those who voice such unjustified criticisms. spiegel : but ecb policy is very sceptically viewed not only by the bundesbank, but also by the federal constitutional court. probably at the beginning of the year, the court will decide whether the ecb ’ s bond - buying programme complies with the basic law. are you worried about the verdict? draghi : there is no point in thinking about a court ruling beforehand. but we are certain that with all our monetary policy decisions we are operating within our mandate. spiegel : many expect you that the judges will set a limit on government bond purchases. what will you do then?