Facing the deep European Investment and growth gap, we need to implement major European investment programmes to bridge that gap while tackling common structural priorities such as the fight against climate change which must absolutely not become a collateral victim of the crisis, or digitalisation which will be even more than before the key driver of future productivity. 2/ Preserving the single market while “repairing” firms is our second common goal in the recovery phase. National governments did well in the acute phase, by taking emergency measures such as providing guarantees and liquidity support to their SMEs. But, as these measures will have to be prolonged and transformed into long-term solvency measures, national differences could create an “unlevel playing field“. A single market – which is in the interest of all Member States, starting with Germany – means common rules for corporates:  Page 7 sur 10 if not, our economies risk further divergence and that would be very unfortunate. The solvency of European business is our shared challenge, and calls for shared solutions. Focusing on these two objectives is more important than arguing about public debt. But let me, for the sake of consistency, propose two basic principles: Existing debts are and will remain the responsibility of national governments. Let us stop this fruitless debate about Eurobonds and the mutualisation of past debt. Fiscal consolidation will remain a national obligation – including in France –, but with appropriate timing in order to avoid the premature and procyclical tightening of public finances.
This lending incentive will reduce bank funding costs by several billions of € each year. The Italian banking sector – and through it, Italian businesses and  Page 4 sur 10 households – is the main beneficiary of ECB refinancing operations with almost 30% of total credit operations outstanding. This even leads some in other countries to argue that our monetary policy is being conducted for the benefit of Italy: they are wrong. Monetary policy is not conducted for any one country, be it Germany, France or Italy. The Governing Council takes its decisions collectively and independently, taking into consideration the euro area as a whole. That being said, let us simply acknowledge that belonging to the Monetary Union has provided Italy with substantial financial relief in this crisis. The ECB has worked well for Europe and for Italy. Our Governing Council took note last week of the judgement by the German Federal Constitutional Court. Let me be crystal-clear: we remain undeterred, as President Lagarde said; furthermore, we are definitely dedicated to and determined to deliver on our mandate as conferred by the Treaty. As the  Page 5 sur 10 European Court of Justice has said, our past actions are indeed proportionate to that mandate. More broadly, I hear debates in our two countries shedding doubt on (i) the independence of the central bank – that should be brought “under political control” – and on (ii) its mandate – which should go beyond price stability, to include employment or the fight against the health crisis.