italian prime minister. the governing council of the ecb refused to do this, clarifying that it was not warranted to reduce further interest rates, which were at the level of 2 %, without putting at risk price stability in the medium term. similarly, ten out of the twelve euro area governments publicly criticised our interest rate rise at the end of 2005. today, there is no longer anybody suggesting that we were wrong in taking the decisions that we took. this shows how strong the tendency around us is to concentrate on the short term. at last thursday ’ s governing council meeting, we confirmed that the level of interest rates was appropriate, and we took measures to initiate gradually our strategy to exit from the crisis, while continuing to provide liquidity support to the euro area banking system for a prolonged period. we will continue to be very vigilant and to carefully assess risks of all kinds without having an a priori bias. one should never lose sight of the medium and long - term objectives and concerns. weren ’ t you expecting the banks to support the economy more? everything that we have done, and are continuing to do, to facilitate the refinancing of banks, we are of course doing so that the banks can perform in the best possible way their function of financing the real economy. our message to them is very clear : there must not be any significant financing difficulties resulting from the supply of credit by financial institutions. this said, the demand for credit is sluggish at the moment, which is always the case after a serious recession. overall, we are seeing a decline in the outstanding amount of loans to non - financial corporations, owing in particular to decreasing credit demand from firms. with regard to households, outstanding credit has once again risen during the most recent months. aren ’ t you concerned to see that, on the one hand, the banks are hurrying back to the markets, once again fuelling what some people consider to be financial bubbles, and, on the other hand, are being strongly urged to lend more? one should beware of making overly simplistic judgements. the sector that we are looking at is not homogenous. some market players seem to have completely forgotten that only a few months ago, the entire financial system was in the process of collapsing, and it was the speed and scope of the decisions of central banks, as well as governments and parliaments, which allowed us to avoid a catastrophe. these players are fortunately in the minority. the

team spirit. the governing council, the executive board, the ecb staff and all the national central banks have proven their solidarity and unity under exceptionally difficult circumstances. it is because of this that we have been able, since the beginning of the period of financial turmoil, to make a prognosis which has turned out to be right and to take the appropriate decisions for the challenges we have faced. we took those decisions very quickly because we had to, without ever losing our course : that is to say price stability in the medium term, which is our primary goal. i believe that it is the ability of the governing council to strictly maintain its medium and long - term price stability strategy, whilst taking quick and, where necessary, unconventional decisions, which best summarises our management of the crisis. but we cannot afford to be complacent. we are still in a difficult situation which means we must always be on our guard. i have been in such situations myself many times, and it is very important to strictly maintain a long - term strategy at the same time as managing a crisis. for example, in my country in 1992 and 1993, as secretary of the treasury and governor of the banque de france, i had to pursue a long - term strategy of competitive disinflation at the same time as being faced with monetary crises in the european exchange rate mechanism. also, as president of the club de paris in the 80 ’ s and early 90 ’ s, we pursued a strategy of long - term debt whilst managing financial crises in the sovereign countries of latin america and africa, in particular. at the moment, my colleagues and i believe that one of the most important goals is to be an anchor of stability and confidence for our 330 million citizens in what is an extremely difficult period.