The governments of the Member States considered themselves free from previous constraints: with the exception of Germany and a few other countries, they delayed structural reforms that could have redressed the competitiveness of obsolete economic structures to meet the challenges of relentless globalisation; they undermined the limits introduced in the Stability and Growth Pact, jeopardising their own credibility as partners in a Monetary Union.
That said, there is one other area where I think we need to dig in more. That is the measurement of our target—the CPI. Last year during our consultations, we heard loud and clear that the measure of inflation needed to be considered. Many people feel that inflation is higher than reported.