Failing to fulfil its mandate is one thing the ECB, as an independent institution tasked with a narrow mandate, cannot afford. And it is one thing the Governing Council will not resign itself to, as demonstrated by the unanimous support that we gave to the package of measures decided on in June. Why was credit easing needed?
Furthermore, in the event of shocks, we have repeatedly breached the upper end of the target range, with inflation at over 6 per cent for about a third of the time in the last five years.