Welcome Speech by Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras at the Formal Dinner in honour of ECB President Dr.Mario Draghi
01/10/2019 - Speeches
I have the privilege and pleasure to welcome President Draghi at the Bank of Greece. Although I am not a scholar in virtual history, I strongly believe that history books will say that his contribution to save the euro ranks above everybody else’s during that turbulent period. On July 26, 2012, with his historical phrase, “The ECB will do whatever it takes within its mandate to save the euro”, he calmed down the very volatile bond markets which had started to price in the dissolution of the euro, without spending a single cent. Since then, he transformed the ECB into a mature, confident and totally independent Central Bank which shouldered a great part of the burden to save the euro.
He navigated the ECB with strong leadership and rationality, always seeking consensus, with emotional intelligence and, finally, with strong determination.
During the Greek crisis he had a very significant contribution to avoid Grexit and keep the Greek banks liquid.
We will miss you a lot, Mario, but we strongly hope that you will continue to intervene and propose rational economic policies aiming at improving the architecture of the Eurozone and maximize the welfare of the citizens of Europe.