It is the only price index that will be sufficiently harmonised across the euro area at the start of Stage Three. Second, by defining price stability using the HICP “for the euro area”, the Governing Council of the ECB makes it clear that it will base its decisions on monetary, economic and financial developments in the euro area as a whole.
I should like to emphasise the fact that the single monetary policy will adopt a euro area-wide perspective; it will not react to specific regional or national developments. Third, this definition is very much in line with most current definitions adopted by national central banks in the euro area.