Given the openness of our economy, we carefully monitored and analysed movements in the international environment. The period from the previous Report was marked by a brighter global growth outlook. Particularly important for us is the improvement of the growth outlook of the euro area and countries in the region, which are our important foreign trade partners.
All governments must take their responsibilities within economic and monetary union seriously, in accordance with the Maastricht criteria and the Stability and Growth Pact. Some countries had probably forgotten this before the global crisis. In 2004 and 2005 Germany, as well as France and Italy, decided to weaken the rules. The Governing Council of the ECB fought against this weakening of the Pact.