Member States with a government debt exceeding the 60% of GDP will have to observe a debt-reduction rule or face an excessive deficit procedure – backed by more effective financial sanctions and new political and reputational measures. Commitments would be more solidly anchored at the national level through new minimum requirements for national budgetary frameworks.
And yet, it is a long-standing experience of the Bundesbank that inflation has often been declared dead, but has never actually died. Nothing is more dangerous than complacency and slackening vigilance. Where might any future risks to the stability of the euro lie?