In particular, it cannot reduce the euro area’s unacceptably high level of structural unemployment. The main contribution the single monetary policy can make to the welfare of the people in the euro area will be the maintenance of price stability in the medium term.
Although monetary policy-making in Europe is not an easy task, I am confident after the experience of the first 11 months that the Eurosystem is both determined to assume this task and is well equipped to do so. BIS Review 128/1999  6