##te the recessionary effects of the high interest rates and slow the fall of the debt - to - gdp ratio. to conclude, in the euro area the markets do not typically influence the propensity of governments to carry out structural reforms ; when this happens, because the governments have delayed the reforms for too long, and owing to the deterioration in the general conditions, the resulting economic policy action does not foster growth. can banking union be considered complete without a common deposit guarantee system, which some countries are opposed to? banking union should be completed. agreements have been drawn up both on the composition of a deposit guarantee system and on a single resolution fund. these measures should be implemented, also because, in this way, one of the problems that characterised the crisis – the two - way relationship between banks and sovereign states – would be weakened by these two measures. speaking of greece, you have acknowledged that even with the implementation of the programme, athens will need debt restructuring. do you think that this should be done gradually, so as to preserve the incentive for the greek government to comply with its obligations? greek debt is sustainable if, first, the government complies with the obligations under the programme that it has agreed to, taking responsibility for or ownership of the programme. second, for the debt to be sustainable a certain degree of relief is required ; the latter should be such as to remove any doubt as to the future sustainability of the debt itself, once the first condition has been met. what type of “ debt relief ” to provide and how to calibrate it so that incentives for compliance with the programme are not distorted are decisions for the member states, namely for those whose balance sheets will be affected by the decision. the ecb has nothing to say in this regard. the past four years have been extremely stressful for all involved – and for you in particular, i imagine, especially given your level of responsibility. what helped you through the worst times? the power of convictions, and the certainty or hope that the decisions we take ease hardship for europeans. bis central bankers ’ speeches

sized ones, up to €250, 000, has got smaller. positive effects can also be seen in lending volumes. our bank lending survey points to similar trends. on the whole the attitude of italian banks with regard to lending has changed ; lending standard have become easier and continue to improve. there has been some recovery in italy. you have hoped to transform this recovery from “ cyclical to structural ” through reforms. are there areas for reform in italy that should be tackled more urgently by the government? these are political choices, which should be left entirely in the hands of governments. the menu of structural reforms is well known. i have spoken about it in a number of speeches in the past. the choices must be made by the political authorities chosen by the electorate, but i don ’ t believe that there is any disagreement about the necessity of reforms. on sunday your presidency of the ecb will reach the four - year mark. this seems a good time to take stock of an extremely eventful time, starting with an interest - rate cut at the first meeting you chaired. and another at the second! this was followed by the launch of long - term refinancing operations ( ltros ) to finance banks and a whole series of ground - breaking decisions. what have the milestones of the last four years been? they certainly have been eventful, and marked by profound changes to the structure of monetary policy. in these four years a variety of new instruments have been introduced in a situation which has, in itself, been extraordinary. in addition to cutting interest rates seven times, we were the first major central bank to reduce the deposit rate to zero, subsequently taking it into negative territory, and we introduced the first three - year ltros. these were followed by the targeted longer - term refinancing operations ( tltros ), the new programmes for the purchase of covered bonds and asset - backed securities and, lastly, the purchase of sovereign bonds in march 2015. this made it possible to avert the biggest threat to monetary union, namely, fragmentation. in august 2012, with the launch of the outright monetary transaction ( omt ), for the first time, we tackled the risk of the redenomination of the euro and fragmentation of the entire banking and financial system in the euro area. this decision was endorsed by the european court of justice in june this year. to ward off this danger, it was also necessary to make another structural change, that is, the