There are booms and there are busts. But if one assumes for a moment that output tends to grow over time along a linear trend, this chart suggests that it was well above trend before the outbreak of the crisis, has sharply adjusted and continues to linger below trend still today.
I also believe that the non-standard measures have strengthened the ECB’s credibility as a reactive, effective and flexible central bank with regards to the means it employs to achieve its objective but also as a central bank determined in the pursuit of price stability, which is, of course, its ultimate objective.