telle sorte que son pouvoir d ’ achat ne s ’ erode pas. la grande audace de l ’ ue est de confier le destin de sa monnaie a une autorite qui n ’ existe pas encore, donc qui n ’ a pas de credibilite acquise a l ’ epreuve de combats passes. le risque est ici d ’ autant plus grand que la revolution monetaire, qui se deroulera sous nos yeux, ne sera pas accompagnee d ’ une revolution politique qui serait en mesure, d ’ ores et deja, de rendre claires les axes de developpement et les priorites futurs. conscients de cette deficience de credibilite, les europeens ont fixe tres precisement les objectifs de l ’ action du sebc. ce dernier devra assurer la stabilite des prix, un mandat qu ’ il aura a remplir en toute independance par rapport aux pouvoirs politiques. de plus, grace aux criteres de maastricht, seuls des pays ayant demontre leur stabilite financiere pourront faire partie de l ’ union, ce qui doit donner un avant - gout de la culture qui existera au sein du conseil des gouverneurs de la future autorite monetaire europeenne. tout a donc ete prevu pour donner au sebc la credibilite indispensable a l ’ application d ’ une politique visant a la stabilite des prix. evidemment, cette question n ’ est pas seulement theorique, elle est egalement d ’ une grande portee economique pour les pays qui entreront dans l ’ union. si la credibilite des autorites europeennes est inferieure a celle des autorites monetaires nationales actuelles, le taux d ’ interet europeen aura tendance a etre superieur aux taux que l ’ europe connait aujourd ’ hui, ce qui pourrait avoir un impact

loan, the prevalence of " stated - income " lending was a clear culprit. substantial anecdotal evidence indicates that failing to verify income invited fraud. moreover, when we looked at the loan - level data we saw a clear correlation between " low - doc " or " no - doc " lending and performance problems, particularly early payment defaults. that is why we have proposed to complement a broad requirement to assess repayment ability with a specific requirement to verify the income or assets a lender relies on to make a credit decision. we recognize that stated - income lending may have a proper place when not layered on top of too many other risks. indeed, stated income lending and " no / low - doc " lending are defining features of the alt - a market, which has long served borrowers with good credit scores who seek some underwriting flexibility. we would target the verification requirement to higher - priced loans, including the higher - priced end of the alt - a market, where the risks of stated - income lending could be layered on top of too many other risks. this targeting is intended to maintain consumer access to responsible credit. the proposal identifies standard documents that would be acceptable, such as w - 2 forms. it also allows, however, any third party documents that provide reasonably reliable evidence of income. this rule is meant to preserve consumer choice by allowing the market to identify credible nontraditional documentation of consumer income - - for example, check - cashing receipts. in that regard, the proposal responds to input we gathered through the hoepa hearing i chaired last june. several panelists spoke of the fact that some consumers may have access to only nonstandard documents and others, such as self - employed entrepreneurs, may have some difficulty documenting their income. to help ensure that the proposal preserves access to credit for the full range of consumers, we have sought public comment on this issue. escrows for taxes and insurance another part of our proposal for higher - priced loans - - a requirement to escrow taxes and insurance - - would also help ensure that borrowers can afford their payments. escrowing has become standard practice in the prime market, and the case for making it standard in the subprime market, too, appears compelling. consumers with shorter or weaker credit histories may be less likely to appreciate the sizable burden that taxes and insurance can add to the cost of homeownership, or more vulnerable to being misled by payment quotes that leave out these amounts