We will continue to ensure appropriate levels of market liquidity to maintain confidence in and the efficient functioning of the financial markets. We will calibrate monetary policy to protect our people’s real income and purchasing power. We will endeavor to keep inflation at manageable levels as this creates the environment for sustainable long-term growth.
11 For example, in the February 2014 press conference, the ECB President responded to a question about the  symmetry of the inflation objective on the downside by recalling that the central bank did not “have a cool attitude at all with respect to the present level of inflation rates […] these levels of inflation for a protracted period of time, are a risk on their own […] so, we [still] have a symmetric attitude.” 12 For example, at the press conference in March 2016, the ECB President noted that “our mandate is defined as  reaching an inflation rate which is close to 2% but below 2% in the medium term, which means that we’ll have to define the medium term in a way that, if the inflation rate was for a long time below 2%, it will be above 2% for some time.