This will safeguard all the benefits expected of price stability in terms of low current and expected inflation and interest rates. To strengthen the “E” in EMU, we need to focus on a sound economic management and we need to secure a broad base of acceptance for it.
This entails: a rigorous implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact; the completion of the Single Market; the implementation of the structural reforms envisaged in the Lisbon agenda; and a careful monitoring of national unit labour costs and competitiveness indicators. The achievements that I have described and the visible benefits of the euro support this sound economic management.