At first the euro was mistrusted, with many calling it the “teuro” (“expensive euro”). Around 20 years ago, 70% of the participants in a survey by the Institut für Demoskopie responded that they had “little or no trust” in the euro, which had been introduced in cash form on 1 January 2002. Today, 82% of Germans support the euro. The Bundesbank played a key role in the introduction of euro cash in January 2002.

Asset purchases can be a monetary policy measure to raise the inflation rate to the desired level in a low interest rate environment. The following film explains how this works.