Without our exceptional measures, growth would be weaker, the unemployment rate higher and inflation would be zero or even negative. The ECB will continue to support the recovery of the euro area in an uncertain international climate. A highly accommodative monetary policy remains appropriate, and will continue to be appropriate until inflation is firmly back on track and heading towards 2%.
These matters raise interesting challenges for our countries to become and remain competitive in a rapidly globalising world in which countries and regions are discussing and entering into closer economic and functional cooperation arrangements. Such trends towards closer cooperation have manifested themselves in the European Union, between the major states of West Africa, in Latin America and in Asia.