mario draghi : interview in bild interview with mr mario draghi, president of the european central bank, in bild, conducted by mr kai diekmann, mr nikolaus blome and mr daniel biskup on 25 april 2016 and published on 28 april 2016. * * * bild : mr draghi, when you became president of the european central bank ( ecb ) just over four years ago, the germans were scared that, as an italian, you would create too much inflation. now, even an italian is unable to generate sufficient inflation. what is going wrong? mario draghi ( laughs ) : nothing. people in germany can rest assured that their ecb president is doing everything to restore inflation to the right level. our mandate is price stability, which means inflation of just below 2 %. bild : in order to achieve that, you have cut interest rates to zero. german savings are melting away like butter in the sun. don ’ t you care about that? draghi : we are well aware of the situation for savers. and it ’ s not only in germany that people have to face low interest rates. but interest rates are low because growth is low and inflation is too low. think about the alternative : if we raised rates now, it would be bad for the economy and it would unleash deflation, unemployment and recession. the interest on savings comes from growth, so it is in the interests of savers that inflation stabilises and growth becomes more robust. besides, many people benefit from low interest rates as they are also homebuyers, taxpayers, entrepreneurs and workers whose companies are benefiting. bild : in germany the adverse effects are predominant. making provision for retirement is becoming increasingly difficult … draghi : remember, what counts is what you earn on savings in real terms, i. e. interest minus inflation. this is higher today than it was on average in the 1990s. at that time you might have had a higher interest rate on your sparbuch ( savings account ), but we often had an inflation rate that was higher still. so the interest looked good at first, but the real return was in fact much lower. moreover, people can influence how much they get on their savings even in times of low interest rates. they don ’ t just have to keep the money in savings accounts but can invest in other ways. the bundesbank has recently shown that the average return on all german household

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