It was perhaps the first time in economic history that a single event was able within just a few days to have a simultaneously negative effect on all households and companies in both the industrialised and emerging economies. We are in uncharted waters, and there are still risks of a sudden emergence of unexpected financial turbulence.
In Economic and Monetary Union, monetary policy decisions are delegated to an independent central bank: the ECB. This framework is appropriate and has delivered the results that the Treaty demands and that our 330 million fellow citizens expect from us, namely medium-term price stability.