Over the last ten years, we have managed to maintain a stable rise in prices of 2.2% per annum on average in the euro area. This is a good result given the spectacular rise in the prices of raw materials and energy which has been recorded over this period.
Nevertheless, it is true that, when the euro was introduced, a few sectors in some European economies tried to take advantage of the changeover to increase certain prices abnormally. This led to an average rise of around 0.2% at the time of the changeover.