[1] As experience with negative interest rates was scant, the ECB proceeded cautiously over time, lowering the deposit facility rate (DFR) in small increments of 10 basis points, until it reached -0.5% in September 2019. While negative interest rates have, over time, become a standard instrument in the ECB’s toolkit, they remain controversial, both in central banking circles and academia.
*  *  *  Ladies and gentlemen I extend my thanks to the organisers - the Friends of Europe, the Hanns Seidel Foundation and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation - for cordially inviting me to speak at this forum.