price stability. therefore, our decision to clearly separate the production of the projections from the analysis of the governing council is fully transparent as it honestly reflects the decision - making process within the ecb. as regards communication, we have always taken an approach that ensures a high level of transparency and clarity of our message. our monthly press conferences are key in this respect. the timeliness and detail of our communication is without comparison. at the same time, we have not changed our view regarding the publication of minutes. we fear that, given the multi - country context in which the governing council works, published minutes - or a procedure in which dissenting views of council members are published ( even without mentioning names ) - could lead to undue pressure on national central bank governors to deviate from a euro area perspective. this cannot be in the interest of the euro area, no more than if the governing council were to end its approach of speaking with one voice. the draft resolution also suggests that the balance of votes within the governing council should be published anonymously. as i stated in my last testimony, i have some doubts whether this would give more clarity to the markets or more transparency than is the case now. in any event, i believe it is crucial that we continue to place the emphasis of our communication on the economic rationale behind monetary policy decisions, rather than on a pattern of differing views in the governing council. to conclude my statement, i should like to briefly refer again to the euro cash changeover. with a single currency, our citizens now have a common symbol of european identity which they use in their daily lives. indeed, the euro has created the foundations that may stimulate further integration - in both the political and the economic and financial fields. in this sense, “ the euro, our money ” can provide a new and more solid basis on which to build an “ ever closer union ”.

willem f duisenberg : presentation of the ecb ’ s annual report 2001 to the european parliament introductory statement by dr willem f duisenberg, president of the european central bank, to the european parliament, strasbourg, 2 july 2002 * * * six months ago we witnessed a milestone in european history : the launch of “ the euro, our money ”, in its visible form. european citizens are now able to perceive - and benefit from - the tangible reality of the euro, and the rapid substitution of legacy currencies at the beginning of this year bears witness to the successful launch of the euro banknotes and coins. the year 2001 provided a particularly challenging environment for the monetary policy of the ecb. the worsening economic outlook was accompanied by short - term upward pressures on prices from various sources, which complicated the conduct of monetary policy. this task was made more difficult by the extreme uncertainty which followed the terrorist attacks in the united states on 11 september. as usual, the monetary policy response of the ecb to such a situation had to look beyond short - term developments, focusing on the risks to price stability over the medium term. from this perspective, we could see that medium - term inflationary pressures were in fact receding. the ecb took account of this by reducing interest rates four times in 2001, by a total of 150 basis points. as a consequence, the minimum bid rate on the main refinancing operations of the ecb - the most important among our key interest rates - reached 3. 25 % in november 2001. the key ecb interest rates have remained unchanged since november and short and long - term real interest rates have been, in a historical perspective, very low. the average annual inflation rate in 2001, as measured by the hicp, was 2. 5 %. inflation in 2001 was affected by the lagged effects of the increases in import prices in 2000, and by the new impact of livestock diseases on unprocessed food prices. we are not satisfied with such an outcome, which is not in line with price stability. however, it has to be recognised that the factors which contributed to shaping this outcome could not be controlled by the ecb. in fact, monetary policy only affects inflation with a lag and cannot control it in the short term. we are satisfied that our policy in 2001 was very well understood by our observers and by the markets. in fact, the level of bond yields, as well as various other indicators of inflation expectations