and growth – it is better to be safe than sorry, in other words to proceed gradually and step by step in monetary policy normalisation. monetary policy will be conducted in a consistent and flexible manner, maintaining the room for manoeuvre. the governing council will use all its instruments to ensure that inflation stabilises at its 2 % target over the medium term. ladies and gentlemen, the heightened geopolitical tension emphasises the importance of unity in the european union. when the covid - 19 crisis fades into history, the eu ’ s greatest challenge will be to strengthen its common foreign and security policy. in people ’ s everyday lives, geopolitics is now seen and felt in the form of higher energy prices and rising inflation. in these circumstances too, the economic stability of europe and finland is vitally underpinned by the european union and the common currency shared by 19 member states. i look forward to hearing the views of others here today on the challenges ahead, and shall be following the discussion closely. thank you! 1 bank of finland bulletin article koronapandemiasta toipuminen kiihdytti inflaatiota, mutta inflaation ennustetaan tasaantuvan ( ‘ the covid - 19 crisis fuelled inflation, but inflation is forecast to s t a b i l i s e ’ ). www. eurojatalous. fi / fi / 2022 / artikkelit / koronapandemiasta - toipuminen - kiihdytti - inflaatiota - muttainflaation - ennustetaan - tasaantuvan / 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches

toshiro muto : how do central banks make decisions? – monetary policy by committee summary of a speech by mr toshiro muto, deputy governor of the bank of japan, at the spring meeting of the japan society of monetary economics, chiba, 12 may 2007. * * * introduction i am honored to have this opportunity to address a society with such a long - standing tradition. today, i would like to elaborate on central banks'decisionmaking process, especially that by committee. although policy changes by the bank of japan attract a lot of attention, i believe that the decisionmaking process, in which policy is decided by a majority vote of the policy board, is not widely understood. for example, according to the results of the 23rd opinion survey on the general public's views and behavior conducted by the bank in june 2005, over half of the respondents answered that they had never heard that " monetary policy aimed at maintaining price stability is conducted based on decisions made at the bank's monetary policy meetings. " the bank has adopted a committee structure in which decisions are made by a majority vote of the members of the policy board. based on the bank of japan law, which was revised in 1997 and came into effect in april 1998, the policy board – the highest decisionmaking body of the bank – decides on a wide range of matters, not only those related to monetary policy but also those related to financial stability and the payment and settlement system. policy board meetings where monetary policy is deliberated and decided are called monetary policy meetings ( mpms ). many other central banks have also adopted a committee structure in making monetary policy decisions, such as the federal open market committee ( fomc ) of the federal reserve system for the united states, the governing council of the european central bank ( ecb ) for the euro area, and the monetary policy committee ( mpc ) of the bank of england ( boe ) for the united kingdom. i. the quiet revolution : decisionmaking by committee a. overview one of the issues in which academic researchers have shown an increasing interest in recent years is monetary policy decisionmaking by committee. professor alan blinder at princeton university, a former vice chairman of the board of governors of the federal reserve system during chairman greenspan's era, has highlighted a " quiet revolution " in central banking practice in the past decade : namely, changes in the areas of decisionmaking by committee, transparency, and communication with the market. 1 decisionmaking by committee requires