However, public statements in favour of a stable euro hardly constitute a copper-bottomed guarantee on their own. A broad base of public support for the ECB’s clear, stability-oriented policy stance will be a crucial factor. Unlike the Statute, the “stability culture” (Richter, 1994) of which so many speak cannot be established by fiat.
That does not mean that both phenomena are mutually independent (also noted by Neumann, 1997, p. 27). Permanent confidence in the stability of the currency can be instilled only within the context of a well-conceived status and its implications for monetary policy; this is confidence which, in turn, underpins monetary policy measures geared to stability.