Transmission lags in monetary policy are generally seen to be longer than the typical agricultural season, so, if monetary instruments are used to deal with such price shocks, they have no impact on the immediate cause of the problem, while possibly doing damage to growth prospects down the road.
All the same, I would like to stress that, in many ways, the euro area is in better shape today than it was before the crisis. This is thanks to measures taken by its member states as well as changes to the structure of the monetary union, both of which I will now focus on briefly.