across countries in the years following the crisis and the dispersion still remains above pre - crisis levels despite some recent declines ( see figure 2 ). such widely differing perceptions across countries pose a challenge for central bank communication in our monetary union. the ecb has sought to address this challenge with what i would refer to as a “ two - layered federal structure of communication ”. the first layer consists of a set of “ centralised ” communication channels through which the ecb discharges its duty to explain its euro area - wide policy conduct to the public and fulfils the accountability requirements vis - a - vis elected representatives as required by the treaties. these channels include : the introductory statements at the press conferences following the governing council ’ s monetary policy meetings, in which the president explains our decisions and summarises the economic and monetary analysis on which they were based ; the monetary policy accounts, which report, with additional detail, the deliberations leading up to the governing council ’ s decisions ; speeches by governing council members ; a panoply of publications bringing together the economic, monetary and financial information that serves as input to the 4 / 15 bis central bankers'speeches underlying policy assessments ; and our public accountability vis - a - vis the european parliament, in the form of our annual reports, the president ’ s testimony before the committee on economic and monetary affairs, and our replies to questions from members of the european parliament. these centralised communication channels are complemented by “ decentralised ” communication channels at national level where, in particular, the national central banks of the eurosystem play an integral role. equipped with in - depth knowledge of their respective economies, and – literally and figuratively – sharing a common language with their audiences, national central banks are essential in explaining ecb policies to the broader public in their countries. this communication with national audiences is also important given that economic conditions may at times diverge in different parts of the euro area. the national central banks are then well placed to correct the potential dissonance between the rationale of monetary policy actions tailored to the conditions of the euro area as a whole and those that national audiences may consider more appropriate for their own economies. explaining the common monetary policy stance in a national context is in practice a very challenging task, especially when countries are hit by asymmetric shocks. reflecting the increasing complexity of monetary policy the challenge for communication to preserve consistency, acceptance and trust across geographies is accompanied by another, no less intricate,

one policy instrument would interact with the others. this evolution in the policy toolkit has been fully reflected in the evolution of the ecb ’ s approach 12 / 15 bis central bankers'speeches to forward guidance in the different phases of the crisis. forward guidance on interest rates was first adopted in july 2013 as a means to insulate the euro area from the global financial turmoil that had followed the so - called taper tantrum episode a few weeks earlier. this proved to be an effective firewall. but the subdued inflation outlook, as well as other headwinds to the euro area recovery, stemming from, for instance, subdued bank credit, required a more comprehensive policy package. so in the summer of 2014 we launched a complex package of policy measures that were to be adopted in a sequential and state - contingent manner as economic conditions evolved. given the essential interaction between policy tools in their transmission to the economy, the ecb accompanied the expanded asset purchase programme that it announced in january 2015 with an adjustment to the forward guidance framework, moving from a previously singular focus on policy rates to a dual approach combining and integrating the different elements of guidance on policy rates and asset purchases ( see figure 8 ). 7 communication about the intended horizon of net asset purchases and the expected future path of policy rates has been a key component of our policy strategy. our forward guidance on policy rates has acted as an enabling condition for the purchases to exert their full impact. in the absence of reassurances that policy rates would remain anchored around levels close to their lower bound for the entire life of the net purchases, the downward impact of asset purchases on term premia could have been partly neutralised by expectations of rate increases. at the same time, the conditionality attached to the intended horizon and size of our net asset purchases has reinforced the signalling power of our forward guidance on rates. 13 / 15 bis central bankers'speeches. conclusion monetary policy communication faces several distinct challenges. it has to be accessible to and useful for a variety of audiences. it has to be consistent in diverse economic circumstances. and it has to clearly convey the central bank ’ s reaction function, also when the latter entails a diverse set of instruments. to meet these challenges, the ecb ’ s communication uses a broad range of channels to express the governing council ’ s policy intentions at euro area level and to explain it to national audiences. it has made further efforts to make this reaction function understood by markets and the broader public, not least by