Chair Jerome H. Powell before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. | Chairman Brown, Ranking Member Toomey, and other members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. The economy has continued to strengthen. The rise in Delta variant cases temporarily slowed progress this past summer, restraining previously rapid growth in household and business spending, intensifying supply chain disruptions, and, in some cases, keeping people from returning to work or looking for...

Read more

The European Commission has today adopted a package of measures to improve the ability of companies to raise capital across the EU and ensure that Europeans get the best deals for their savings and investments. One year on from the 2020 Capital Markets Union Action Plan, the Commission is delivering on its commitments, proposing measures to boost European capital markets. This will help Europe's economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, as well as the digital and green transitions. In addition,...

Read more

Keynote speech by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, at the ECB Legal Conference 2021 | Frankfurt am Main, 26 November 2021 | Introduction Ladies and gentlemen, The first President of the European Commission, Walter Hallstein, famously said that the European Union is a “community of law” – an expression which was then picked up by the European Court of Justice in its judgments. The rule of law is one of the basic principles of our Union, and one we have to defend...

Read more

Interview with Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, conducted by Gerald Braunberger, Dennis Kremer and Christian Siedenbiedel on 23 November and published on 26 November 2021 | Madame Lagarde, inflation rates are increasing around the world. Inflation in the United States is 6.2%, while in Germany a rate of close to 6% is expected for November. Is inflation spiralling out of control? At the European Central Bank we are of course monitoring that very closely. And not only because our primary...

Read more

Today, the European Commission has proposed to update the rules on coordination of safe and free movement in the EU, which were put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the summer, vaccine uptake has increased significantly and the EU Digital COVID Certificate has been rolled out successfully, with more than 650 million certificates issued to date. At the same time, the epidemiological situation in the EU continues to develop with some Member States taking additional public health...

Read more

Today, the European Commission has launched the 2022 European Semester cycle of economic policy coordination. The European Semester Autumn Package includes the Annual Sustainable Growth Survey, Opinions on euro area Draft Budgetary Plans (DBPs) for 2022, policy recommendations for the euro area and the Commission's proposal for a Joint Employment Report. The package draws upon the Autumn 2021 Economic Forecast which noted that the European economy is moving from recovery to expansion but is now facing new headwinds. Annual Sustainable Growth Survey This year's...

Read more