They provide the ECB and the national central banks of the euro area with a clear mandate – to maintain price stability – and clear independence from third parties to achieve this objective.
In this way, the drafters of the Maastricht Treaty have taken into account the experiences of, especially, the 1970s and early 1980s and the empirical research carried out in this area, which clearly show that the best contribution a central bank can make to economic growth and welfare is to maintain price stability.