What we have achieved, from the first of January 1999 until the end of this September, is an average inflation rate of around 2.0%. Let me emphasise that this period includes the financial crisis which started in the summer of 2007, which has already entered its fifth year.
Despite these challenging times, the record in delivering price-stability is outstanding and stronger than that of any of the national predecessors of the ECB. An average inflation rate of around 2.0% testifies as much to the success of the euro as a currency, as to the ECB as its central bank.