Interview with Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, conducted by Daniel Murray

26 March 2023

Have you come to expect crisis and are you comfortable managing crisis?

The situation is quite different to the one we had in 2008/09. First, banks have much better capital and liquidity positions, well above minimum requirements, their situation is overall more solid, also on account of more demanding regulation. Secondly, looking at the macroeconomic situation, there are no problems with respect to the competitiveness of European economies. For example, the balance of payments in Spain, Greece, Ireland, or Portugal are in a much better position. And finally, the economic policy approach is different in comparison with 2010, 2011 and 2012. We have had four years of looser fiscal rules. That was the correct response to the crisis during the pandemic. It was a sort of whatever it takes in fiscal policy while monetary policy was very supportive too. We have other difficulties now, but…