moreover, indirect effects of past oil price increases and euro depreciation are still coming through as witnessed by the continued rise in producer price increases for consumer goods. other short - term factors, such as increases in indirect taxation or in administered prices, may also prevent consumer price inflation from falling rapidly below 2 % over the next few months. i should also like to emphasise that market participants consider the current level of consumer price inflation as temporary. bond yields in the euro area indicate that the general expectation is for inflation to be within the ecb's definition of price stability in the medium term. the ecb is committed to fulfil this expectation. the current uncertainty regarding the prospects for world economic growth heightens the need to maintain the foundations for strong non - inflationary growth in the euro area as well as to strengthen the potential of the economy. the ecb shares the objective of the governments and citizens of the euro area of a growing prosperity in the euro area. by focusing on the maintenance of price stability over the medium term, the ecb is making an essential contribution to the achievement of this objective. at the same time, it is of paramount importance that all policy actors help to maintain the current favourable outlook for growth and inflation in the euro area. first, it is crucial that social partners continue the process of wage moderation seen in the past. this will not only facilitate the task of monetary policy, but will also contribute to continuing the process of reducing unemployment in the euro area. in addition, long - term growth perspectives for the euro area will benefit if governments intensify their efforts to progress along the path of fiscal consolidation. i consider that budgetary plans recently expressed in countries'updated stability programmes are not very ambitious as tax cuts are not accompanied by appropriate expenditure restraints. if the macroeconomic environment remains as favourable as expected, the envisaged fiscal policy stance could add to demand pressures. fiscal policy could, thus, become an additional source of upward risks to price stability. in addition, the stability programmes do not make the necessary progress in addressing long - term fiscal challenges. these challenges include, inter alia, the budgetary adjustments needed in many countries to cope with population ageing. more efforts are also needed in the ongoing process of implementing structural reforms to foster the growth potential of the euro area. this is of crucial importance to promote the supply of labour and capital and to innovate and disseminate new technologies and production methods. more flexibility in labour markets and

headquarters, as appropriate, located outside the euro area ; • credit institutions with their main place of business inside the euro area will be allowed to subfrontload euro banknotes to their subsidiaries that are also credit institutions and are located outside the euro area or to other credit institutions which have neither their registered nor their head office inside the euro area ; and • branches, headquarters and subsidiaries of euro area - based credit institutions, as well as other credit institutions, located outside the euro area, to which euro banknotes would be distributed or sub - frontloaded, are not allowed to further sub - frontload euro banknotes to any third party ( eg retailers ) whatsoever. in contrast to the euro area, where frontloading and sub - frontloading may start as from 1 september 2001, the distribution and sub - frontloading outside the euro area will only be permitted as from 1 december 2001. regarding the euro 2002 information campaign, i should like to report to you that a detailed outline has been agreed and presented to the media, including the principal slogan to be used throughout the whole information campaign : the euro. our money. moreover, a website dedicated to the campaign was launched in all 11 official languages of the european community, and can be visited at www. euro. ecb. int. the website contains a number of sections providing a broad range of information which should help specialist groups and the general public to prepare for the introduction of the euro banknotes and coins. the governing council also agreed to organise a series of conferences on euro changeover issues - the " euro 2002 information campaign conferences " - which will bring together the key parties involved in the euro cash changeover process at both national and european level. these events will be organised in the course of 2001 in all euro area member states, hosted by the respective national central bank. the conferences will support the visibility of the euro 2002 information campaign and prepare the ground for the mass media part of the campaign, which will begin in earnest in the last quarter of the year. the first conference of this series, to be hosted by the national bank of belgium, will take place tomorrow here in brussels.