In an interview with the French newspaper "Le Monde" on the question of whether the euro is in danger, the president of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi replied that he did not.
"No, absolutely not. We see analysts imagining scenarios of the collapse of the euro zone. They do not recognize the political capital that our leaders have invested in this union and the support of the Europeans. The euro is irreversible," Draghi said.
In the long term, the euro will need to rely on greater integration among the euro countries, Dragi pointed out.
"All movements towards financial, budgetary and political union are inevitable for me and lead to the creation of supranational bodies," he said.
At a summit in Brussels last month, European leaders took a step towards stronger integration by agreeing to put the European Central Bank in charge of supervising banks by granting it a fund to help banks in trouble.
Draghi said that the monetary policy of the European Central Bank and bank supervision activities will be conducted separately in order to avoid conflicts of interest and he also suggested that an "independent structure" could be created.
The scandal surrounding the manipulation of the LIBOR interest rate has undermined confidence in the global financial system, Dragi said, among other things.
Asked to comment on the economic perspective of the euro zone, Dragi said that he does not see the risk of the entire zone entering a recession and that the situation will gradually improve by the end of the year and the beginning of 2013.
Finally, Dragi added that the European Central Bank, which strives to keep inflation in the euro zone below two percent, is ready to take measures if there is a risk of deflation.
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