benoit coeure : the “ fourth stage ” of emu – laying the foundations for a sustained recovery speech by mr benoit coeure, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the interparliamentary conference on “ economic governance of the european union ”, in the context of the european parliamentary week, brussels, 21 january 2014. * * * i would like to thank jean - francois jamet and marion salines for their contributions. i remain solely responsible for the opinions contained herein. mr president, mr meimarakis, honourable members, ladies and gentlemen, this month, we celebrate the 15th anniversary of the introduction of the euro, marking the start of the third stage of economic and monetary union ( emu ). we now know that this was not the final stage. the crisis and subsequent adjustment have created considerable uncertainty and social hardship. yet, there are encouraging signs that the situation is changing and that europe is gradually moving towards recovery. fragmentation has significantly receded in euro area financial markets. what we need now is to create the conditions for a sustained recovery. and we all have a role to play. first, in nurturing a still weak and uneven recovery. the ecb has a key role to play in this respect. second, in creating conditions for sustainable long - term growth. and finally, in enhancing democratic accountability and developing a shared vision of the future of european integration. the contribution of monetary policy and banking union improving the financing of the economy will play a vital part in the recovery. the ecb had an essential key role in this respect throughout the crisis. the ecb was faced with interrelated key challenges, namely deleveraging, fragmentation and a weak economic environment. like other central banks around the globe, we have taken decisive measures to ensure the proper transmission of our monetary policy. we have reduced the key interest rate to a historic low. we have stated that, in view of the subdued outlook for inflation, we expect interest rates to remain at current or lower levels for an extended period of time. we are fully committed to maintaining price stability over the medium term, that is, inflation below, but close to, 2 %, and we have been absolutely clear that our inflation objective is symmetric : low inflation is as bad as high inflation. there are already indications that we are making significant progress in reintegrating financial markets.. it is true that the improvement in financial conditions is not reflected to the same extent in all euro area economies

four presidents ’ report1. in this process we should always ask ourselves : in 15 years from now, what will the people of europe say when they look back at what we have done? will they regard it as a decisive moment in paving the way for a stable european economy and sustainable growth? i believe this long - term outlook should be our benchmark. and in this process, it is clear that further sharing of sovereignty has to go hand in hand with enhanced democratic legitimacy and accountability. i trust this year ’ s european elections will be the occasion for an important debate in this regard. thank you for your attention. towards a genuine economic and monetary union, report by herman van rompuy, president of the european council, in close collaboration with jose manuel barroso, president of the european commission, jean - claude juncker, president of the eurogroup, and mario draghi, president of the european central bank, 5 december 2012. bis central bankers ’ speeches