waning commitment and could severely undermine investor confidence. inflation and price stability all of this has coloured the complexion of our recovery, making it very pale and sickly. and inflation – a thermometer of the underlying state of economic strength – has given us warning signs. inflation has been on a downward trend since early 2012. over the last four months, the trend has accelerated noticeably. to be sure, neither the scale nor the composition of the recent disinflation has been very unusual : most of the recent fall in headline figures has been driven by an unwinding of past bouts of price increases in the most volatile components of the consumer basket. for example, fresh food in the very recent period saw the reversal of price tensions that were registered earlier in the year. likewise, favourable base effects and moderate corrections in crude oil prices led to a sharp correction in the energy component. nevertheless, if one corrects for these erratic effects, the downward trend in the non - energy and no - food part of our inflation index – the hicp – was no doubt a rapid one. also, the negative momentum introduced by energy prices comes at a point in time where the non - energy factors are also drifting down. none of the various components of the inflation index are below their historical lows, if taken in isolation. the fact that they are all at their minima at the same time is something that we have not observed in recent times. why is this a source of concern? and why is it policy relevant? the treaty that has established the ecb has given the new central bank a well - defined mandate : to maintain price stability. it did not say more than this. what is price stability? in response to this question, at the very start of monetary union in october 1998, the governing council of the ecb defined price stability as a positive rate of inflation below 2 %. if inflation rates are kept within this range over the medium term – so was the thinking behind this quantification – economic decisions will not be distorted by the pure drifting of the nominal scale. inflation rates within this range are sufficiently low to not interfere with an efficient allocation of resources. they do not promote that sort of arbitrary redistributions of wealth and income that has proved so disruptive in inflationary contexts. by implication, the central bank – which is responsible for determining inflation over longer horizons – does its best in terms of contributing to the economic welfare of society if it succeeds in delivering inflation that on average gr

reise was an essential bridge between the culture of germany and that of the land wo die zitronen bluhen. the programme for these days revisits our cultural heritage, our artistic and historical legacy, but it also reflects the culture and cultural activities of present - day italy. classical music is the centrepiece of the opening and closing concerts as well as the charity event, but there will also be presentations of contemporary italian music. the italian film days are entirely given over to contemporary directors and will offer the opportunity to reflect on the ways in which the traditional italian family model has changed. in literature, the themes range from the deeper meaning of cultural identity to the role of women in the risorgimento. this evening the orchestra mozart will perform the opening concert under the baton of claudio abbado. the maestro ’ s career, his essential embodiment of the universal language of music, certainly needs no presentation. i cannot even begin to sum up the course of his art. let me merely recall that he has conducted some of the world ’ s greatest orchestras : the berliner philarmoniker, the wiener philarmoniker, la scala. constantly engaged with social problems and active in promoting the artistic growth and careers of young musicians, claudio abbado has founded a series of orchestras for young instrumentalists of artistic excellence, including notably the chamber orchestra of europe and the orchestra mozart, which came bis central bankers ’ speeches into being in bologna. both draw their players from a vast range of different countries, talented young musicians playing alongside established soloists. the orchestra mozart owes its name to the role that the city of bologna played in mozart ’ s development. it was with the philharmonic academy of bologna – one of the centres of european cultural life – that mozart, at the age of fourteen, took his diploma as “ maestro compositore ” on the 9th of october 1770. music as solidarity, music as social life, music as at once expression of and factor in personal and cultural growth. these are the values that claudio abbado and all these young musicians have brought with them to the orchestra mozart, from the very start. now, it is my pleasure to leave you to the sublime art of gioacchino rossini. claudio abbado conducts the orchestra mozart in the overture to the barber of seville. bis central bankers ’ speeches