Mario DRAGHI, ECB President, presents the European Central Bank Annual Report for 2016, during the EP plenary session (5-8 February 2018) in Strasbourg. On this occasion, MEPs are set to voice concerns about how prolonging the ECB’s post-crisis bank asset purchase programme could affect individual savers and the financial equilibrium of pension and insurance schemes. Statements by Jonás FERNÁNDEZ (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, Mario DRAGHI, President of the European Central Bank, Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), Pervenche BERÈS (S&D, FR) and Sander LOONES (ECR, BE).

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

BERÈS, Pervenche (S&D, FR)

DRAGHI, Mario (IT)

LOONES, Sander (ECR, BE)

European Central Bank annual report (T)

FERNÁNDEZ, Jonás (S&D, ES)

MUREŞAN, Siegfried (EPP, RO)

European Central Bank Annual Report for 2016: extracts from the statement by Mario DRAGHI, ECB President

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Jon&#225;s FERN&#193;NDEZ (S&amp;D, ES), The monetary policy on its own is insufficient we need fiscal policy which will allow for diversification of the positions of governments within the economic cycle so that the whole Eurozone can have a consistent fiscal policy. This also means we need funds would activate and improve the productivity across the EU.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Jon&#225;s FERN&#193;NDEZ (S&amp;D, ES), Rapporteur, We call on the ECB to pay attention to the side effects of its own monetary policy, the report quite clearly calls for new instruments for transparency. The ECB needs clear legibility criteria to prevent any kind of discrimination between small and big companies, we need to improve the implementation of the ELA to ensure that it is robust and to ensure that there is proper scrutiny by this House on the ECB.

SOUNDBITE (English), Mario DRAGHI, President of the European Central Bank, Employment has now reached its highest level since the introduction of the euro. The unemployment rate continues to decline and now stands at close to a nine-year low of 8.7%, down by 3.3 percentage points from its highest level.

SOUNDBITE (English), Mario DRAGHI, President of the European Central Bank, New headwinds have arisen from the recent volatility in the exchange rate, whose implications for the medium-term outlook for price stability require close monitoring.

SOUNDBITE (English), Mario DRAGHI, President of the European Central Bank, Our net asset purchase programme, running at a monthly pace of &euro;30 billion, will continue until the end of September 2018, or beyond, if necessary, and in any case until the Governing Council sees a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation consistent with its inflation aim

SOUNDBITE (English), Mario DRAGHI, President of the European Central Bank, The improved health of the banking sector, coupled with our credit easing measures, has brought about a marked improvement in the transmission process, as shown by the reduced heterogeneity of bank lending rates across countries and improved borrowing conditions for SMEs

SOUNDBITE (English), Mario DRAGHI, President of the European Central Bank, Indeed, overcapacity and cost inefficiencies continue to weigh on bank profitability in certain banking markets. Moreover, the high stock of non-performing loans (NPLs) needs to be further reduced and any future build-up needs to be avoided.

SOUNDBITE (English), Mario DRAGHI, President of the European Central Bank, Another factor shaping the euro area financial sector is the United Kingdom&rsquo;s decision to leave the EU. At this stage, we do not have clarity regarding the shape of the UK&rsquo;s future relationship with the EU. Well-managed preparations are thus essential for dealing with frictions in the transition from the current situation to the eventual new equilibrium especially in the event that no transitional agreement is reached between the EU and the UK.

SOUNDBITE (English), Siegfried MURE&#536;AN (EPP, RO), I'm still concerned about the risks of the persisting low interest rates for the insurance and pension sectors, as well as for private savings, this is an important element of the European Parliament's report with regard to the ECB&lsquo;s annual activity report for 2016

SOUNDBITE (French), Pervenche BER&#200;S (S&amp;D, FR), You give a lot of importance to the conditions to the designation of the Vice President of the ECB, we are expecting to see a short list that is balanced, a short list that satisfies all the criteria established by the Treaty for filling the post of Vice President of your institution.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Sander LOONES (ECR, BE), When I&rsquo;m talking about putting a stop to your experiments, because its legitimacy has been questioned, we hopefully in September we will be able to put a stop to this, because it is important we waited far or too long with this low interest rates and meanwhile we have problems with public debts, we have households debts, we have slippage on all sides, it is not acceptable.