However, some of these measures have, as I have repeatedly pointed out, taken the Eurosystem to the outer edge of its mandate. Meanwhile, the comprehensive measures agreed by the Governing Council of the ECB at the beginning of June cannot, in my opinion, be compared with the crisis measures taken two or three years ago.
The current measures do not provide for individual countries’ liability risks to be taken onto the Eurosystem’s balance sheet. The task now is to prevent too prolonged a period of low inflation. For that could paralyse the euro-area’s economy. Savers are understandably angry at extremely low interest rates that are more than eaten up by inflation.