Blog post by Federico Maria Ferrara, Tom Hudepohl, Pamina Karl, Tobias Linzert, Benoit Nguyen, Lia Vaz Cruz |  The Eurosystem is shrinking its balance sheet, which makes more government bonds available for purchase. The ECB Blog looks at how markets are adjusting to this new situation with regard to bond price volatility, liquidity and the impact on repo markets. Since mid-2022 the Eurosystem’s balance sheet declined by around €2,000 billion, or more than 22 per cent. The largest part of...

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On March 25th the Commission published a Flash Eurobarometer conducted at the regional level, showing that EU citizens look positively at the economic situation and the quality of life in their region. Over eight out of ten Europeans (82%) say that the quality of life in their region is good. At the same time, 65% of Europeans say that the current situation of the economy of their region is good. Europeans tend to think that the most important issues facing their region at the moment are the cost of...

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Speech by Alfred Kammer, Director - European Department, IMF  |  Thank you, Dean Muštra, for your opening remarks and Governor Vujčić for the invitation to attend this year’s Regional Governors’ Meeting in Split. Today’s gathering comes two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a subsequent energy-price roller coaster, and the advent of a more fragmented global economy. Against this backdrop Europe has done well, because governments acted fast and decisively. Unemployment rates have remained low, inflation has declined sharply, and the EU announced a new...

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Blog post by Tobias Adrian and Marc Dobler |  Almost a year ago, Credit Suisse, a globally systemic bank with $540 billion in assets and the second-largest Swiss lender, founded in 1856, failed and was sold to UBS. In the United States, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank failed at around the same time amid Federal Reserve interest rate hikes to contain inflation. With a combined $440 billion of assets, these were the second, third, and fourth biggest bank resolutions since the...

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Trainees all over the EU will benefit from better quality traineeships thanks to new Commission proposals. They will improve and enforce working conditions for trainees, and ensure everyone can do a traineeship regardless of their socio-economic background or disability, by: improving learning content ensuring fair pay helping trainees claim their labour rights recommending access to adequate social protection combatting regular jobs disguised as traineeships creating channels to report malpractice and poor working conditions promoting equal access to traineeship opportunities allowing...

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