Nonetheless, while recent wage developments have been encouraging, we will monitor very closely the upward risks to price stability related to the risk of possible second-round effects of past oil price increases on consumer prices via wages. The maintenance of robust non-inflationary growth is a challenge to be met by many policy areas.
Fiscal policy will have to continue the consolidation process, and governments should abide by the commitments of the Stability and Growth Pact and by those made in the context of their stability programmes, pursuing further improvements on the expenditure and revenue sides of the budget.