During the EP plenary session (21-24/11) in Strasbourg, MEPs debate on the European Central Bank annual report for 2015 with Mario DRAGHI, President of the ECB.&nbsp;Statements by Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Vice-President of the EC in charge of the Euro and Social Dialogue, Roberto GUALTIERI (S&amp;D, IT), Danuta Maria HUBNER (EPP, PL), Jonas FERNANDEZ (S&amp;D, ES), Bernd LUCKE (ECR, DE), Ernest URTASUN (Greens/ALE, ES), and Pervenche BERES (S&amp;D, FR).

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

BERÈS, Pervenche (S&D, FR)

HÜBNER, Danuta Maria (EPP, PL)

GUALTIERI, Roberto (S&D, IT)

European Central Bank

European Central Bank annual report (T)

FERNÁNDEZ, Jonás (S&D, ES)

DOMBROVSKIS, Valdis (EPP, LV, EC)

URTASUN, Ernest (Greens/EFA, ES)

European Central Bank annual report for 2015: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (English), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Vice-President of the EC in charge of the Euro and Social Dialogue,  The implementation of the ECB previously announced measures is expected to keep gradually improving financial conditions and contribute to bringing inflation closer to the ECB objective, or keeping inflation below but close to 2% in the medium term. However, we also share this Parliament&rsquo;s view that the prolonged period of low or EU negative interest rates represents a challenge for the European financial system. While low interest rates are necessary to support the recovery, and will have some positive impact in the short term on financing cost and capital gains for banks, a protracted environment of very low or negative interest rates would be a symptom of persistence weak aggregate demand and overall macro-economic conditions.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Roberto GUALTIERI (S&amp;D, IT),  Whoever is wondering the risks and negative impact such a policy could have, should remember that the monetary policy of the ECB is not the cause of the low interest rate, but is a symptom and a necessary therapy that has to be put in place. Because of slow growth rates, because of the political and economic uncertainty that exist at the moment, the present expansive policy of the ECB is necessary to return to the inflation rate of 2%.

SOUNDBITE (English), Danuta Maria H&#220;BNER (EPP, PL),  The ECB has been in fact in charge of coping of most part of the post-crisis adjustment. As president Draghi stressed earlier this year, half of the growth we have witnessed is due to the exceptional monetary policy that has been put into place. But this alone cannot solve the problem of imbalances, cannot solve the problem of huge debt overhang. The quantitative easing seems to blur the line between monetary and fiscal policy, it may not be stimulating other adjustments, fiscal and structural, needed to resolve impediments, to put economy on a more robust growth path.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Jon&#225;s FERN&#193;NDEZ (S&amp;D, ES),  The profits of the European Central Bank, the only federal institution of our currency, the euro, should go back to the budget of the Union.

SOUNDBITE (German), Bernd LUCKE (ECR, DE),  We&rsquo;ve got this distortion, but at the same time we are seeing mortgage bubbles, property bubbles of tremendous dimension. We are seeing increasing rents in large towns and cities, we are seeing increasing inequalities between those who have wealth, assets - the value of their assets are increasing significantly - and those who don&rsquo;t have assets.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Ernest URTASUN (Greens/ALE, ES),  My group is quite concerned, because after the ten proposal tabled by the European Commission to have a fiscal policy a tiny bit more expansive next year, at least a little more than this year, the reaction of certain Member States has been to say &ldquo;no!&rdquo; Not only the Germans, but even the Spanish minister of the economy has said no to this expansive policy.

SOUNDBITE (French), Pervenche BER&#200;S (S&amp;D, FR),  There is an element of the international context that you didn&rsquo;t mentioned, so I&rsquo;ll do it, which is the issue of the election of Donald Trump in the United States, the issue of what impact it will have in terms of interest rates developments. I think your institution is getting ready for that, but on the European side we need to have some visibility with regard to how it&rsquo;s going to affect the European economy.