While the pandemic has temporarily forced us to forgo informal interactions, I am confident that we will be able to make the most of our discussions. I hope that the efforts under way to prevent and eradicate COVID-19 will allow me to welcome you in person in the near future.
So the question is: who should take responsibility in the medium-term for increasing the supply of safe assets to meet this demand? First and foremost, euro area governments should make their outstanding stock of debt safer by running fiscal policies which are more responsible and friendlier to growth, so that the publicdebt-to-GDP ratio is seen to be on a declining path.