They have made a crucial contribution to preserving the very favourable financing conditions that are supporting the economic upturn and the sustained adjustment in the inflation path towards our aim. The euro area economy, including the public sector, currently benefits from very low interest rates.
It is important for everyone to realise that our monetary policy decisions are only guided by our price stability mandate. In the light of this, fiscal authorities and borrowers in the euro area should be long-sighted enough and plan sufficiently ahead to prepare themselves for the time when it will be appropriate for us to start a gradual process of policy normalisation.