Brussels, 08/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, the European Central Bank unveiled its evaluation of the ECB's monetary policy strategy. Deciding to keep its 13 October 1998 quantitative definition of price stability ("a year-on-year increase in the Harmonised index of Consumer Prices, HICP, for the euro area of below 2% and the need to ensure medium-term price stability), the ECB decided to point out that "in the pursuit of price stability it will aim to maintain inflation rates close to 2% over the medium-term; This clarification underlines the ECB's commitment to provide a sufficient safety margin to guard against the risks of inflation", explains the ECB in a press release. "Moreover, the Governing Council wishes to clarify communication on the cross-checking of information in coming to its unified overall judgement on the risks to price stability. To this end, the introductory statement of the President will henceforth follow a new structure. It will start with the economic analysis to identify short to medium-term risks to price stability. As in the past, this will include an analysis of shocks hitting the euro area economy and projections of key macroeconomic variables. The monetary analysis will then follow to assess medium to long-term trends in inflation in view of the close relationship between money and prices over extended horizons. As in the past, monetary analysis will take into account developments in a wide range of monetary indicators including M3, its components and counterparts, notably credit, and various measures of excess liquidity.