Ladies and gentlemen, it is our pleasure to welcome you to this press conference. The Vice-President and I will now report on the outcome of today's meeting of the Governing Council of the ECB, which was also attended by Prime Minister Juncker and Commissioner Almunia.

On the whole, we continue to see no significant evidence of underlying domestic inflationary pressures building up in the euro area. Accordingly, we have left the key ECB interest rates unchanged. These interest rates are at historically low levels and are making an important contribution to the economic recovery. At the same time, upside risks to price stability over the medium term exist. These require continued vigilance on the part of the Governing Council.