It’s our belief that we have a lot of political support in Europe. Our policies are dictated by decades of monetary thinking and best central bank practices. The Deutsche Bundesbank has been the champion of this thinking and these practices. Central bank independence and low and steady inflation are written into the German founding law.
In my opinion, the alternatives proposed by those criticising us are not very credible. If we raised interest rates now, it would no doubt abort the recovery of the economy and compromise the achievement of our objective. And what’s your assessment of Germany’s position on the banking union? I believe that Germany should be bolder with regard to completing the banking union.