Draghi challenges Euro area Governments to reform...

Mario Draghi: Excerpts from Speech by the President at SZ Finance Day 2015

Speech by Mr Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, at SZ (Süddeutsche Zeitung) Finance Day 2015, Frankfurt am Main, 16 March 2015.

18 Mar 2015

" Still, what adds fragility to our union is the fact that, despite the crucial importance of structural reforms, they remain almost entirely a national responsibility. From the moment countries enter monetary union there is no way to guarantee that they will stay fit enough to thrive within it. In my view this has to change.

Because the cohesion of the euro area depends on all countries prospering, what happens within each one is not just a national interest, it is a collective interest.  

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But we have not yet advanced far enough to put all questions about our future to bed. We need to remove those lingering doubts that resurface whenever a shock hits. And to do so we have to accelerate both our economic and institutional convergence.

Our monetary policy is helping to make this possible by creating an improving cyclical environment. But it is now up to governments to seize on this opportunity and make those improvements permanent."

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