de Guindos Interview Published In La Repubblica

La Repubblica have published an interview conducted with ECB Vice President de Guindos. The most interesting snippet was probably the following:

• Q: Some members of the ECB Governing Council are already calling for tapering in the light of a recovery in the second half of the year. Are they right to do so?
• I don't have any preconceived notions in this respect. The way in which the economy develops will be the deciding factor. If by speeding up the vaccination campaign we manage to have vaccinated 70% of Europe's adult population by the summer and the economy starts to pick up speed, we may also start to think about phasing out the emergency mode on the monetary policy side. The manufacturing sector is already doing very well; services are still lagging behind but should soon be able to recover and close the gap with the industrial sector. We hope that in a year's time the pandemic will be behind us, social distancing will be a memory and the economy will be back to pre-pandemic levels: monetary policy will have to adjust to that.
• Click to read full interview transcript.