But even if euro area member states comply with the conditions, there is no automatism to activate OMTs. For the Governing Council of the ECB, there is only one single deciding criterion and that is the maintenance of price stability in the euro area. This overarching criterion has shaped the design of OMTs, and it will decide over its potential activation.
Thank you very much for your attention. 7  See B. Cœuré (2012), “Challenges to the single monetary policy and the ECB response”, speech at the Institut d’études politiques. Paris, 20 September. 8  See E. Leeper (1991), “Equilibria under ‘active’ and ‘passive’ monetary and fiscal policies”, Journal of Monetary Economics, 27, pp.