“We are aware of the fears of businesses and households about a significant increase in energy prices,” emphasized Mr. Pascal Donahue after yesterday’s meeting of the Eurogroup. “We are dealing with the consequences of an immoral war, and therefore we are determined to overcome this problem. We are meeting this challenge with record employment and the recovery of our finances from the pandemic crisis.”

Finance ministers discuss strengthening businesses and households. “However, we recognize that at the same time we have to deal with inflation. Therefore, our interventions will be consistent with the monetary policy of the ECB, and we will make every effort not to add inflationary pressure,” continued the head of the Eurogroup.

He announced that priority was given to two political steps: the intervention should be “extraordinary” and, if possible, targeted.

Eurogroup interventions will be consistent with the monetary policy of the ECB.

We reaffirm our commitment to trying to avoid a wage spiral. We are ready to cooperate closely in these areas, he said. He acknowledged that there is a risk of a recession, but it is not inevitable.

For her part, Christine Lagarde stressed the need for “solidarity” within Europe. According to him, he explained to the ministers the decisions taken yesterday by the ECB. He described rising inflation as “great concern”, stressing that the central bank is determined to bring it back to 2%. This is our core mandate and we will not deviate from it.

“We will fight this shock with the same determination that we faced the previous one” (pandemic). He explained that there is little the ECB can do to lower gas or electricity prices. This is the job of governments, which must cooperate. However, he will act decisively so that today’s price increase does not lead to “fixing” inflation expectations.