One of the positive surprises about last year’s recession is how little damage it inflicted on average household and corporate balance sheets in Europe. In the past, deep recessions were followed by protracted weakness as they left households and businesses with significantly higher debt and lower income and capital. So far this has not been the case with the COVID-19 crisis, largely thanks to the extraordinary policy response by governments and central banks. As the recovery takes hold, however, policy makers...

The COVID-19 pandemic presents a real-life test that may hold important lessons for financial policy, including the functioning of G20 reforms. The COVID-19 pandemic is the first major test of the global financial system since the G20 reforms were put in place following the financial crisis of 2008. While significantly different in nature from the 2008 crisis, this real-life test may hold important lessons for financial policy, including the functioning of the G20 reforms. The report identifies preliminary lessons for financial...

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, today launches a consultation on draft ESMA guidelines on certain aspects of the MiFID II remuneration requirements. The remuneration of staff involved in the provision of investment and ancillary services and activities, or in selling or advising on structured deposits to clients is a crucial investor protection issue. Therefore, ESMA has developed draft guidelines that aim to clarify and foster convergence in the implementation of certain aspects of the new...

Speech by Isabel Schnabel, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at a virtual event series hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics | Last week the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) published its new monetary policy strategy. It was the ECB’s first review of its strategy since 2003, with most features of the framework still dating back to its founding years. Since those times, the world economy has changed in fundamental ways. About half of today’s ten...

Interview with Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, conducted by Martin Arnold on 11 July 2021 | It is only a few days since you announced a new strategy. How will this change the ECB? I think what has changed is how we define price stability and while in the past, we had this vaguely ambiguous and a little bit complex “below, but close to, two per cent”, we now have what I would call a simple, solid, symmetric two per...

Blog post by Fabio Panetta, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB | We are entering the age of digital money. Much like commodity or representative money in the past, digital money is emerging in response to changes in society and technology. Today, digitalisation is reaching all areas of our lives. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has shown just how fast such change can happen. And this is affecting the way we pay. We are increasingly buying digitally and online. The...

Today, the European Commission adopted a package of proposals to make the EU's climate, energy, land use, transport and taxation policies fit for reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. Achieving these emission reductions in the next decade is crucial to Europe becoming the world's first climate-neutral continent by 2050 and making the European Green Deal a reality. With today's proposals, the Commission is presenting the legislative tools to deliver on the targets agreed in the...

Main results Infographic - Recovery fund: the EU delivers See full infographic Ministers focused on the economic recovery. They adopted the first set of Council implementing decisions on the approval of 12 national recovery and resilience plans. Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain can now sign grant and loan agreements and start receiving funds from the EU's Recovery and Resilience Facility. Ministers also exchanged views on the further implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The Facility will make...