*  *  *  Introduction Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great pleasure for me to be here and to discuss with you the ECB’s monetary policy during the crisis. I wish I could talk about the financial crisis in the past tense.
The last time I had the opportunity to talk about these issues in Malaga was, when I had the honour of receiving the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from this prestigious university in June. Unfortunately, since then, the sovereign debt crisis has reached a new intensity.