The first and most important step towards a high degree of transparency was the explicit announcement of our monetary policy strategy in October 1998, well before we actually started conducting the single monetary policy in the euro area. It clearly stated the basic concepts driving our monetary policy and thus helped to reduce the acute uncertainty faced by market participants at that time.
As regards our communication policy, we have been from the very beginning very bold. In 1999 the state of the art of central banking communication was, with only very few exceptions, to display the diagnosis of the central bank with a delay of five or six weeks by publishing the minutes.