still growing : 81 % at the end of 2016. support is also strong on average in the euro area ( 70 % ) and in my own country ( 68 % ). however, we are all agreed that monetary policy alone is not enough to ensure stronger growth. 2. to achieve stronger growth, our countries must reform and europe must rapidly bring two supplementary levers into action. the first growth lever for the euro area is more reform in our countries and a better collective economic strategy. growth and employment would be stronger in europe with more structural reforms where they are a priority, such as in france, and more public investment for instance and fiscal support in those countries with room for manoeuvre, such as germany. regarding reform, like you, i would like france to accelerate ; i say it frequently in my country. these reforms are compatible with the european social model that we share ; many successes in europe have demonstrated this. but you must not consider your french neighbour to be “ unreformable ”. france has not been immobile over the past few years. pensions have been reformed. reforms such as the cice tax credit, the responsibility pact and the so - called “ el 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches khomri ” labour law have substantially reduced the burden for businesses. france has met its deficit reduction targets for the past two years. this fiscal credibility must continue to improve in 2017. all this is not enough, but you should not doubt france too much, even in this election year. the soundness of our political institutions and majority system represent lasting advantages. from its significantly more positive economic situation, germany should also continue with reform : demographic change is likely to result in a decline in the working population – and the present inflow of refugees will not change this to any significant extent. this means that growth will slow in the long term. however, it is obviously not for me to advise measures for your country. at european level, our competitiveness will depend in particular on creating a large digital single market. i know that when the french speak of coordination in europe, germans sometimes suspect it to be a new trick to avoid reform. we must break out of this dead - end : we need both national reforms and european coordination. as helmut schmidt repeated frequently, we must build economic union as well as monetary union. but this does not in my view mean a “ union of transfers ”, which germany quite legitimately refuses. the second growth lever : create in parallel

of m & as ) and, more generally, allows a better allocation of savings and sharing of risks. as a consequence, the euro is becoming extremely attractive, as a vehicle, a transaction, an investment and a reserve currency. as you may know, as central bankers, we remain neutral as far as the internationalisation of the euro is concerned. we are neither encouraging, nor discouraging the process. but, as a french and european citizen, i cannot help and feel proud of having one the two main currencies in the world. in sum, benefits of the euro include a high degree of credibility of monetary policy reflected in the level of long - term interest rates ; diminished exchange rate volatility ; completion of the single market and encouragement to cross - border trade. none of this, of course, can be taken for granted. benign conditions currently prevailing on financial markets can be reversed. shocks may be coming, which would impact negatively european economies. despite some signs of cooling, imbalances are still building up, especially in the housing sector, fuelled by a dynamic expansion of credit, although in no way comparable to those in some other developed economies. but i have the strong conviction that we are fully equipped to deal with any contingency, and, provided the necessary structural reforms are undertaken, keep the economy on a path of growth and stability. 2 ) how have those successes been achieved? a lot comes, in my view, from the institutional and operational framework in which monetary policy is developed and implemented. the independence of the ecb and of the 13 participating ncbs is enshrined in the treaty. they are institutionally, operationally and financially independent from european community institutions and national governments. we have a clear and transparent definition of price stability : inflation below but close to 2 % over the medium - term. the monetary policy framework of the eurosystem is “ medium - term ” oriented. it rests on a two - pillar approach : on the one hand the economic analysis examines cyclical, economic and financial indicators related to the main determinants of short - term inflation ; on the other hand the " monetary analysis " looks at the behaviour of money and credit aggregates and provides a perspective on longer - term inflation. cross - checking the outcome of the economic analysis – broadening growth in the euro area – with the monetary analysis – ample liquidity and strong monetary growth – supports the assessment of risks over the medium to long - term horizon, which