“The ECB is not a political institution, but it has assumed its responsibilities as an institution of the European Union“. This was stated by the president of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi in an interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit. “A fundamental debate is taking place in Europe on the future of the euro”, continues the president, “. Many citizens are concerned about the direction in which Europe is heading. Yet the solutions presented appear unsatisfactory to them. And that's because they are solutions offer two choices: either go back to the past or move towards the United States of Europe. My answer to the question is: to have a stable euro we must not choose between extremes”. But it is also true that "those who want to go back to the past have misunderstood the value of the euro".
The debate that is taking place, explains Draghi, "is not the euro as a currency" but rather "because the euro has not yet fully succeeded as a political order". Political union and economic union can go "in parallel". And while "a new architecture for the eurozone is certainly desirable", "political union must go hand in hand with fiscal, economic and financial union".
As regards the expectations of the policies that the ECB will be able to adopt in the coming weeks, Draghi writes that “monetary policy may require exceptional measures” and “making these decisions, when necessary, is our responsibility as the central bank of the Eurozone as a whole”.
Read the entirearticle by Mario Draghi (In English)
