Monetary Dialogue with Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank: extracts from the debate

Brussels

debate

meeting

DRAGHI, Mario (IT)

monetary dialogue with the ECB (T)

SOUNDBITE (German), Markus FERBER (EPP, DE), I wanted to ask whether all of the measures that you've taken in recent years haven't stimulated inflation and and haven't reached the stated aim of an close to 2 percent.

SOUNDBITE (English), Mario DRAGHI, President of the European Central Bank, If we go back to 2014 when the first time QE was hinted would take place and in December the probability of deflation was 30 percent and inflation rate was minus zero point six percent. And sinc ethen I think we've done quite a bit. As I was recalling the unemploymentrate now is the lowest since 2008.And by and large more than 11million jobs being created over six years,less than six years times more jobs than in the United States for example and to a great extent I believe it was the monetary policy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Mario DRAGHI, President of the European Central Bank, <a></a>Monetary policy has done its job and will continue doing its job.When I when I argue for having a greater role for fiscal policy I don't intend at all to say that monetary policy has exhausted either its instruments or their effectiveness at all. Monetary policy will continue doing its job but, if the fiscal policy is active. Monetary policy will act faster and with less side effects.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Jon&#225;s FERN&#193;NDEZ (S&amp;D, ES), So I'd like to ask you not just over the last few weeks and months but to look forward to how you see monetary policy in Europe shaping up over the next few years.

SOUNDBITE (English), Luis GARICANO (RE, ES), We are many of us still concerned about one big Eurozone country that that you you know well which is Italy, it hasn't grown in 30 years. What's going on in Italy? How worried should we be, why does Italy not grow? What does it need to do in order to grow?

SOUNDBITE (English), Mario DRAGHI, President of the European Central Bank, It really concerns the structural reforms agenda. Each country has its own agenda of structural reforms and they are not necessarily only fixing the budget. The structural reforms are a much broader concept, much broader category that encompasses, usually, one thinks about reforming the labour market. That may be important at some point but reforming the product market, increasing competition is as important if not more and probably sequentially should come before. Doing other things. And so on, the judiciary, the educational system the research.