I don’t need to explain the practical relevance and occasional topicality of this connection to listeners from member states with a federal structure such as Austria and Germany. It would be a false signal, which would threaten to discredit the proposed European risk-sharing mechanism from the outset, to now mutualise risks that arose under national responsibility.
While such purchases go beyond the domain of traditional central bank operations, the scale and type of assets to be purchased have not been sufficient to materialize a strong commitment to achieving 2 percent inflation at the earliest possible time. We need to pursue bold monetary easing both in terms of quantity and quality.