Dr. Gabriel Fagan:

In a sense, the mandate for delivering what we call price stability in the euro area belongs to the European Central Bank. It is a monetary policy. Ultimately, inflation is a monetary phenomenon so it involves monetary policy. If inflation is too high or low, monetary policy is the main instrument to address it. Unfortunately, from this perspective we have a governing council meeting on Thursday and as part of the rules of engagement, Central Bank officials have a quiet period in advance of such meetings. Central Bank officials are requested not to comment on monetary policy issues so as not to provide disturbing signals and so on. Therefore, we are not really in a position to speak about monetary policy issues at this moment.