Mr President, the Group of the supports Mrs Kauppi's report. It is true, in view of this year's presentation, that the European Central Bank is especially to be congratulated not only on having managed to make the eurozone an object lesson in the importance of the euro as a response to external shocks, but also on the introduction of euro notes and coins having been so successful. We have detected some dissatisfaction with the new money on the part of some members of the public, but Europe has in any case demonstrated that it can achieve something when it stands shoulder to shoulder. According to one survey, 64% of all members of the public at last feel a little more like Europeans now they have the euro in their pockets. That is the way it should be! The public's price awareness, however, is not as it should be, as the real rate of price increase in the eurozone, which is statistically verifiable and extremely low, does not relate to the inflation that people perceive. Parliament was therefore right always to back a campaign of information and to insist that the introduction of euro notes and coins should be understood as a conversion not merely in the technical sense, but also as one with great psychological significance. That being the case, it is also important that we should send out positive signals. The fact that consumers can sense overnight the advantages of monetary union when they use a card to withdraw cash, is very important. More advantages will become apparent, for example in the holiday season that is just beginning. That is certainly attributable to Parliament's efforts. I will now briefly consider the concerns about the revaluation of the euro. Euro/US dollar exchange rate convergence certainly makes a slow curve desirable, but that cannot be controlled. It cannot, then, be emphasised too strongly that falling import prices in this phase of a slow recovery in the eurozone facilitate an environment that favours an expansive monetary policy and do not in any case necessitate decisions to change interest rates in any direction. The EU is dependent on this in order to keep the Lisbon process on track. The European Central Bank bears a great responsibility. It is to be hoped that the coordination of economic policies will at last actually create a favourable environment for all the actors. There have recently been less favourable developments in the aggregate money supply, which, however, have a silver lining in that they indicate recovery, being a sign that enterprises are obtaining liquidity for investment in future economic growth, and this, for Europe, is a matter of life and death. I do think it important that there should be even greater transparency in the European Monetary Union. I set great store by the European Central Bank's willingness to listen to Parliament's arguments that we should know all the reasoning underlying decisions on monetary policy. That is also good for the European Central Bank's credibility and trustworthiness. The European Central Bank also has the task of helping to build up financial stability. It counts for a lot with me that the European Central Bank should continue to promote financial stability and, unlike the American Federal Reserve, should not allow its monetary policy to support the creation of speculative bubbles. Even in future, the ECB must not permit its own conduct to give rise to moral hazards!

Political group: PSE