*  *  *  I have great pleasure in presenting the first Annual Report of the European Central Bank to the European Parliament at today’s plenary session. Almost ten months have passed since the euro was successfully introduced and the ECB took over full operational responsibility for the single monetary policy.
Yet so far the reforms have been small. A key problem in Italy, France and Germany is that companies are not investing sufficiently in their home countries, and since households are reluctant to spend, the only option is to wait for an exportdriven upswing. A consumption-driven upswing in Europe would be desirable. To this end households must be willing and able to spend more.