the potential for growth of the greek economy. 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches conclusions let me conclude. i have traced the progress achieved so far and mapped the challenges ahead for the third greek adjustment programme. a year ago, european leaders agreed on a set of measures that will secure greece ’ s future in the euro. if everyone plays their part, i am firmly convinced that at the end of the programme, greece will be better able to reap the benefits of economic and monetary union – a union of 340 million people sharing the same currency – and its economy will be stronger and more resilient. we should not forget, nevertheless, what else we can do to make greece stronger in a stronger europe. let me be clear : europe will not address matters of pressing concern such as security or migration without a strong and sustainable economy. a lot still needs to be done to make our economic and monetary union stronger. the ecb is committed to playing its role as the central bank for the euro area, and thus for greece. thank you for your attention. i look forward to your questions. 1 the ecb ’ s role in surveillance is enshrined in eu secondary legislation ( ‘ two - pack ’ regulation ( regulation ( eu ) 472 / 2013 ). 4 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches

benoit cœure : strengthening the greek financial system introductory remarks by mr benoit cœure, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at a public hearing at the european parliament, brussels, 12 october 2016. * * * thank you for inviting me to this meeting of the financial assistance working group. i am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the dialogue between our institutions on the euro area macroeconomic adjustment programmes. in recent years, this topic has indeed been frequently discussed here by the ecb president and other ecb executive board members, including myself. we have also responded publicly to the many questions you have sent us in writing. maintaining an open discussion with you as the representatives of the people of europe is very important, given the advisory role in the field of surveillance and programme assessment conferred upon the ecb by eu legislators1 and by the esm treaty. you asked me to discuss in particular the third adjustment programme in greece from the ecb ’ s perspective. let me therefore base my short introductory remarks on the following three points. first, i will recall the challenging situation in summer 2015 when the third greek programme was negotiated. against this backdrop, and this will be my second point, i will review the progress made in the third programme. finally, i will discuss the challenges ahead and emphasise the importance of a continued collective commitment for the success of the programme. in my remarks today, i will mainly focus on financial issues, as i believe this is where the ecb ’ s advice is of particular relevance. the situation at the start of the third greek programme let me briefly recall the circumstances in which the third esm programme for greece was negotiated. this indeed remains key to understanding where we are now. after the severe and long recession, which started in 2009, the long - awaited rebound of the greek economy got under way in the second half of 2014. however, following the announcement of new parliamentary elections at the end of december 2014, economic conditions started to rapidly deteriorate. increased policy and political uncertainty, partial reversals of previous reforms, the rejection of existing commitments by the new government and the lack of a prospect of continued financial assistance under a programme led to a worsening of the economic environment and of sovereign creditworthiness. this in turn had a strong impact on an already severely weakened financial sector. in particular, between december 2014 and june 2015, deposit outflows amounted to more than a quarter of total deposits. lack of adherence to the second programme