And, against the background of the clouded prospects for economic activity in the euro area as a whole, calls for recourse to monetary assistance measures, which are comparatively easy to deploy, have become more vociferous of late.
I should first of all like to emphasise with all due clarity that the assignment of roles under the Maastricht Treaty does not provide for ex ante coordination of different economic policy areas in the sense of coordinated demand management. Incidentally, such coordination is neither desirable nor necessary if every policy area discharges its own responsibility.