I will first very briefly review the economic and monetary developments over the past year and explain our monetary policy decisions. I will then touch upon the current fiscal challenges in the euro area and progress made to reinforce the EU economic governance framework. Finally, I would like to address issues related to financial stability and regulation, with which your Committee deals extensively.
The way of thinking about monetary policy management has certainly changed since the outbreak of global financial market turmoil in the summer of 2007. In particular, since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September last year, the policy discussions have changed further with the first-hand experiences of the downward spiral in both the financial and real sectors of the economy.