To them, I would like to say the following: I understand their concerns, since a persistently lower euro exchange rate might ultimately lead to higher prices in the shops,
We will set rates as the situation requires.
Of most concern are some of the uncertainties that will inevitably arise as the result of the move to stage three. Against this background, the council has chosen a distinct monetary policy strategy and one that reflects the circumstances it faces at present.
In the past 25 years the average growth rate of euro area gross domestic product has been between 2 and 2-1/2 percent, ... We are now in for a period this year and next year when growth will be in excess, I would even say considerably in excess, of 3 percent a year.
The Danish people have chosen to deprive themselves of benefits in the form of an increase in the rate of growth and the welfare of the economy that would have otherwise taken place, and that is already taking place within the euro area.
This reduction is to be seen as an adjustment of interest rates to an appropriate level to ensure that the euro area will be able to maintain price stability and to contribute to growth,
In a world characterized by highly integrated and sophisticated international financial markets, there is serious doubt whether target zones for exchange rates are feasible.
Not having an exchange rate policy -- and we do not have one -- does not mean there is benign or malign neglect. For the time being there is neglect.
I'm rather inclined to say this deplorable action by the United States' authorities to protect its steel industry may have something to do with the exchange rate of the dollar, as it is being experienced by the American steel industry.
So we do expect to maintain a growth rate in the euro area of at least 3 percent per year for the next two years.
Oil prices and exchange rates remain two important considerations,
The depreciation of the exchange rate of the euro will increase the risks to price stability, ... In the medium term these risks have to be taken seriously, and we are taking them seriously in light of the current exchange rate.
A mild recovery (in the global economy) is generally expected to start in the course of 2002 and to accelerate in 2003,