This massive and rapid action was welcomed but raised questions, particularly in Germany: is the ECB not going beyond its mandate, endangering price stability? And even more "fundamentally ", where do these thousands of billions created all of a sudden come from? I will start with the second question: the specific feature of a central bank is its ability to create money virtually and without limits. However, it must be borne in mind that the money created by central banks is never simply “given away” permanently: it is loaned for a limited period; and it is channelled into the economy and eventually comes back to the central bank. The central bank can buy time through its monetary creation, and this is important. But it cannot sustainably increase wealth; only our work and economic growth can. I will now return to the first question, on whether or not we are fulfilling our mandate. In its founding Treaties, and under the legitimacy afforded to it by economic actors and public opinion, the ECB’s measures are bound by two interlinked anchors: its price stability mandate and its independence. They are inherited from the Bundesbank and in my view vital. Independence : the ECB is subject to neither national governments, nor to the pressures of the financial markets nor of passing trends. The ECB’s monetary policy must continue to support economic activity, for the sake of its own mandate of price stability.
In the short and medium term, the crisis will have desinflationary effects that are already noticeable, with inflation temporarily falling in August by 0.2% in the euro area, and by 0.1% in Germany. For a year as a whole, we are expecting a slightly positive inflation of 0.3% in 2020 and 1.0% in 2021. As you know, we unfortunately remain well below our inflation target of "less than, but close to 2%". The other aspect of the response to the health crisis are fiscal measures, primarily at the national level. Germany clearly made greater use of the financial leeway it had built up since the 2009 crisis. Its fiscal stimulus package (as a percentage of GDP) is at this stage greater than France’s. The effectiveness of its stimulus package is still difficult to anticipate: in particular, the 2/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  temporary reduction in VAT appears costly. The French government also announced a EUR 100 billion stimulus package last week. I wish to mention three positive features. It focuses on business supply and investment, and not household demand. This is fully justified, since households, protected by short-time working measures, except for the most vulnerable ones, will have saved nearly EUR 100 billion this year. This plan also has a strong focus on transformation, including ecological reconstruction - a third of the funds are allocated to this area.