This has pressed the GDP to a level that in the second quarter was 4.6 % lower than one year earlier. There are signs that the slide may have stopped.
•  Secondly, the conferences should give ECB representatives the opportunity to directly respond to the watchers’ assessments. •  Finally, the conferences should generate an intellectual competition among the various monitoring groups. Reviewing the conferences that have taken place so far, I can conclude that, happily, these objectives have been achieved.