I would rather like to focus on the more recent decisions, addressing what we decided at the Governing Council meetings of last year’s December and last week. An important part of the ECB’s response to the crisis comes in the form of our “standard” policy measures.
In November 2011 the ECB cut its main policy rates by 25 basis points in response to mounting downside risks to the growth outlook of the euro area and the global economy, ultimately threatening price stability. These downside risks were also related to an intensification of financial market tensions.