This enabled action to be directed more effectively to where the risks to monetary policy transmission were greater. Overall, the ECB’s measures supported favourable financing conditions across the euro area and fended off risks of financial fragmentation. And governments were in a position to step in, offsetting lost private sector income. We have learnt two main lessons from this experience.
The recommendations that will come from the discussions in this workshop will inform the negotiation process. I wish to remind honorable members that one of the benefits of a monetary union is to reduce the costs and risks of doing business across the national boundaries. Most of these costs are transactions related.