course of 2021, inflation reached a multi - decade high of 7. 4 % in march, up from 5. 9 % in february. the war has amplified the impact on consumer energy prices, which have further increased since the start of the conflict and are now 44 % higher than one year ago. this surge in energy prices is reducing demand and raising production costs. the war is also weighing heavily on business and consumer confidence and has created new bottlenecks. these bottlenecks are exacerbated by additional supply chain difficulties stemming from new pandemic measures in asia. these developments point to slower growth in the period ahead. there are also offsetting factors supporting euro area growth though, such as the strong labour market and the momentum coming from the re - opening of some sectors. regarding the inflation outlook, price increases will most likely remain high over the coming 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches months, mainly because of the sharp rise in energy costs. over the medium term most survey and market - based measures of inflation expectations indicate inflation rates around our two per cent target. inflation expectations have been rising in recent months though and initial signs of above - target revisions in those measures warrant close monitoring. there are many factors complicating the outlook for growth and inflation, and it is clear that uncertainty is high. in this environment, our monetary policy is guided by the principles of optionality, gradualism and flexibility. at its april meeting, the governing council judged that the incoming data since its previous meeting reinforced its expectation that net asset purchases under the asset purchase programme ( app ) will be concluded in the third quarter. looking ahead, our monetary policy will be data - dependent and reflect the governing council ’ s evolving assessment of the outlook. this data dependence is fully in line with the principle of optionality. changes to our key interest rates will follow “ some time after ” the end of our net purchases and be gradual. moreover, within our mandate and under stressed conditions, we will deploy flexibility to ensure that monetary policy is transmitted smoothly across the euro area, as we did to good effect during the height of the pandemic. we stand ready to adjust all of our instruments within our mandate, incorporating flexibility if warranted, to ensure that inflation stabilises at our two per cent target over the medium term. the combination of fiscal and monetary policy support remains critical, especially in this challenging geopolitical situation. the fiscal support measures adopted so far in response to the war have helped

jean - claude trichet : opening speech at the conference on “ the safety and efficiency of post - trading arrangements in europe ” opening speech by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, at the joint ecb / european commission conference “ the safety and efficiency of post - trading arrangements in europe ”, frankfurt am main, 21 - 22 april 2008. * * * ladies and gentlemen, i am delighted to welcoming you to frankfurt and open the next one and a half day ’ s conference on “ the safety and efficiency of post - trading arrangements in europe ”. this conference is organised jointly by the ecb and the european commission as part of our continuous concerted initiatives to foster european financial integration in general and in the post - trading environment in particular. this conference is distinctive in at least two ways. firstly, it brings the main european decision makers and opinion - formers from various segments of the post - trading activity together, to foster the european debate in an open and visionary way. secondly, as the conference is organised into distinguish sessions covering all post - trading activity, we have a unique opportunity to draw up concrete proposals and recommendations from each field of expertise. i look forward to learn from the discussions of today ’ s conference on how to enhance the safety and efficiency of the european post - trading market. i would like to emphasise the importance of the post - trading activities in europe. put into global perspective, europe is comparable to the united states in terms of its economic size, but whereas firms in the united states operate in a single, large domestic post - trading environment, in europe, firms have to operate across many smaller, national markets and bear the higher complexity and costs of connecting to all of these markets either directly or via manifold intermediaries, implying additional unnecessary costs. as a result of this lack of integration, europe lags behind the united states. for example, the cost gap 1 is particularly large for cross - border transactions, with estimates suggesting that the difference can be a multiple of two or even more. this gap for europe must be closed and clearly demonstrates that concrete actions are needed to make europe significantly more competitive and a more attractive place for issuers and investors. this objective is in line with the lisbon agenda, which claims that not only must europe do better, it can do better. we aim to make europe a highly efficient and secure place to issue and trade securities. however, europe lacks – for instance – a common post - trade “ auto