François Villeroy de Galhau: The euro area's monetary policy in the context of economic recovery

Speech by Mr François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France, for the public lecture "The euro area's monetary policy in the context of economic recovery" at the Central Bank of the Republic of Austria, Vienna, 6 October 2017.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Accompanying slides

Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to thank the Oesterreichische Nationalbank and my friend Governor Ewald Nowotny for having invited me today. A little more than one year ago, the full Governing Council of the ECB celebrated in this very place the 200th anniversary of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB). Today, your country is on the eve of important national elections . Throughout history, Vienna has been one of the centres of Europe, and Austria a country that we love: on a more personal note, I am indebted to Austria for enabling me to improve my German during a lengthy stay in Graz, Styria, over 40 years ago. And the Austrian economy has been a strong performer in the euro area: a low unemployment rate of just 5.6% in August 2017, against 9.1% for the euro area as a whole. You are the proof, along with other countries, that our common European social model is compatible with economic success.