This measure was put in place to help reduce the debt and at the same time help fund government development plan and social obligations. The way the debate raged, one can be forgiven in believing that VAT was the target and not poverty reduction. The arguments seem to suggest that lowering VAT will solve the problems of poverty.
On this basis, at the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, we agreed last summer on a comprehensive action plan, with an ambitious roadmap to further incorporate climate change considerations into our policy framework and to more systematically reflect environmental sustainability considerations in our monetary policy.