Mario Draghi criticized the Member States do very little to implement structural reforms
by Emanuele Bonini
Reforms, reforms, reforms. Once again, the president of the ECB, Mario Draghi, urged the governments to implement what is needed to exit the crisis once and for all, calling the Member States not to hide behind the elections as a pretext to avoid maintaining the promised efforts. Draghi has been insisting on the need for structural reforms since he assumed his post, and he still renews his appeal. The latest call was made on at the end of the meeting of the governing council of the European Central Bank, which to decided to maintain unchanged the interest rates and to go on with the Quantitative Easing. The non-standard monetary policy measures, confirmed at the net asset purchases of the new monthly pace of €60 billion, are intended to run until the end of December 2017 or beyond, if necessary. It's the same old story: the ECB does its own part, but the Member States have to do their own. «Things are going better. Recovery previously fragile and uneven, is now solid and broad», the Eurotower chief said at the end of the board meeting. Nevertheless, «economic growth continues to be dampened by a sluggish pace of implementation of structural reforms», whose responsibility lies on the countries of the Euro area. Always. «It’s quite clear that once countries enter into a very important political and election cycle, the push for legislating structural reforms becomes less vigorous. However, this by itself doesn’t justify any absence of action, because even without legislation you have implementation of previously legislated reforms».
That's a new frontal assault against the States, then, no one excluded. It is important that everybody respect the rules, starting from the structural reforms already agreed. «There’s no doubt that some of this unemployment is structural and not cyclical», reminded the ECB chief. That means structural reforms are «useful» and then required. Draghi repeated himself, showing how alone be in working for what is necessary to shore the Eurozone up. And yet someone, especially in Germany, doesn't hide criticism for that. The German minister of Finance, Wolfgange Schaeuble, keeps considering the ECB too much interventionist and pro-active. «We don’t comment on politicians’ statements about our monetary policy. Only to say that it’s pretty ironic to hear these comments from people who’ve supported independence of monetary policy and the independence of the central bank all throughout». Another frontal assault, and clearly targeted. Less targeted complaints from Draghi have been finally addressed against those who is trying to escape the rules through excess of flexibility and derogations. «A full and consistent implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact and of the macroeconomic imbalances procedure over time and across countries remains crucial to enhance the resilience of the Euro area economy». A word is enough to the wise.
Reforms, reforms, reforms. Once again, the president of the ECB, Mario Draghi, urged the governments to implement what is needed to exit the crisis once and for all, calling the Member States not to hide behind the elections as a pretext to avoid maintaining the promised efforts. Draghi has been insisting on the need for structural reforms since he assumed his post, and he still renews his appeal. The latest call was made on at the end of the meeting of the governing council of the European Central Bank, which to decided to maintain unchanged the interest rates and to go on with the Quantitative Easing. The non-standard monetary policy measures, confirmed at the net asset purchases of the new monthly pace of €60 billion, are intended to run until the end of December 2017 or beyond, if necessary. It's the same old story: the ECB does its own part, but the Member States have to do their own. «Things are going better. Recovery previously fragile and uneven, is now solid and broad», the Eurotower chief said at the end of the board meeting. Nevertheless, «economic growth continues to be dampened by a sluggish pace of implementation of structural reforms», whose responsibility lies on the countries of the Euro area. Always. «It’s quite clear that once countries enter into a very important political and election cycle, the push for legislating structural reforms becomes less vigorous. However, this by itself doesn’t justify any absence of action, because even without legislation you have implementation of previously legislated reforms».
That's a new frontal assault against the States, then, no one excluded. It is important that everybody respect the rules, starting from the structural reforms already agreed. «There’s no doubt that some of this unemployment is structural and not cyclical», reminded the ECB chief. That means structural reforms are «useful» and then required. Draghi repeated himself, showing how alone be in working for what is necessary to shore the Eurozone up. And yet someone, especially in Germany, doesn't hide criticism for that. The German minister of Finance, Wolfgange Schaeuble, keeps considering the ECB too much interventionist and pro-active. «We don’t comment on politicians’ statements about our monetary policy. Only to say that it’s pretty ironic to hear these comments from people who’ve supported independence of monetary policy and the independence of the central bank all throughout». Another frontal assault, and clearly targeted. Less targeted complaints from Draghi have been finally addressed against those who is trying to escape the rules through excess of flexibility and derogations. «A full and consistent implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact and of the macroeconomic imbalances procedure over time and across countries remains crucial to enhance the resilience of the Euro area economy». A word is enough to the wise.
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