mario draghi : interview in le journal du dimanche interview with mr mario draghi, president of the european central bank, in le journal du dimanche, published on 15 december 2013. * * * is europe finally returning to growth? growth has returned, but it is certainly not very strong. it is modest, fragile and unequal. germany is doing well ; france, italy and spain are improving ; things are not going so well in the netherlands ; and greece and portugal remain under pressure. unemployment is still too high, but it seems to have stabilised at an average of around 12 %. we forecast that growth in the euro area will be 1. 1 % next year and 1. 5 % in 2015. what is driving the recovery? looking at the figures, we can see that exports are picking up again and – this is a new development – consumption is recovering. various factors have played a role in that. first of all, our monetary policy, which has remained accommodative since 2011, is in the process of bearing fruit. the commitments that we have made regarding the future direction of our monetary policy and our decision in november to reduce the rate on our main refinancing operations to 0. 25 %, the second reduction in 2013, have also contributed to that. uncertainty is receding, which should help to stimulate investment and encourage banks to lend. purchasing power has also improved as a result of declines in energy and food prices. do you think that a line needs to be drawn under greek debt in order for the country to get out of its current situation? the reform programme put in place with the aid of the imf and the commission in liaison with the ecb seems to be bearing fruit. we will examine greece ’ s budgetary situation and its development at the start of the year. the greek people have already made a large number of sacrifices and i hope that the country will achieve budget surpluses ( excluding its debt burden ) as of next year. nevertheless, the reforms have to continue. do you believe that the bitter pill of austerity that was imposed on the countries of the euro area in order to tackle the debt crisis was the right solution, the only acceptable response? austerity was essential, as it was the necessary solution to one of the most serious financial crises that we have ever seen. prior to 2010, the world we were living in was somewhat unreal. our creditors, institutional investors, were not differentiating

between credit to greece and credit to germany. when people began having doubts regarding greece ’ s solvency, all of that came to an end. institutional investors began re - evaluating the risk profiles of all the countries of the eu. we know what happened next : spreads on lending rates began to increase, distinguishing between countries that were judged to be safe ( and therefore creditworthy ) and the rest. this crisis has taught us a lesson. it has taught us that we cannot generate either sustainable growth or a fair distribution of prosperity by amassing debt. it has also forced us to focus on the fundamentals in order to check the solidity of each individual economy. that was when we realised that the time for structural reforms had come. without the crisis, we could have given ourselves more time to implement them, and we could have accompanied the austerity plans with stimulus measures. but as that was not done when we had time, reforms have had to be implemented as a matter of urgency and in a painful manner. bis central bankers ’ speeches pierre moscovici, our minister for the economy, believes that france is the victim of “ french bashing ”, as it has reduced its deficit and undertaken fundamental reforms. what do you think? major efforts have been made, but it is important that france continues along the path of the reforms already undertaken. the government and the french people are aware of this. competitiveness remains insufficient, and improvements to public finances must stop being based on tax rises. france needs to return to fiscal stability so that firms start to invest again. should germany, the true engine of european growth, not share the fruits of its growth with its neighbours in order to foster a broad - based recovery? the real issue here is slightly different. we need to try to understand why germany is doing better than its neighbours. the answer is that germany has given itself the means to be more competitive thanks to its bold structural reforms. in the early 2000s, germany launched labour market reforms. it remains an example for the other eu countries to follow. its performance is based on the great strength of its small and medium - sized enterprises ( smes ), which are exporting and innovating. that platform needs to be preserved. but germany should not rest on its laurels and needs to foster investment, particularly investment in infrastructure. what are the prospects for europe, given that growth is no longer creating jobs? unemployment is indeed the number one problem for the governments of eu countries – starting